UMS Françoise Dupont
by snafsnaf
Summary: Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been born in Paris, France, on Earth, but she had spent the majority of her life in space, the last five years on the UMS Françoise Dupont, studying as a cadet with hopes of becoming a pilot.
1. The Noir Delegation

**UMS Françoise Dupont**

So I was going for an episodic space opera feel when I got this idea, and it's changed over time as the details filled themselves in. I'm not sure how to classify it now, beyond ''scifi MLB fanfiction.' I've written 9 episodes (chapters) with a soft ending. I've been sitting on this for long enough that it's time to hit publish.

I'm starting at a K+ rating. There is some kissing, reference to more-than-kissing, discussion of war and war crimes, a little bit of death, but i think it's tame enough for K+. Let me know if you disagree.

* * *

EPISODE 1: The Noir Delegation

* * *

_In this episode: Aliens join the crew of the UMS Françoise Dupont._

Marinette Dupain-Cheng had been born in Paris, France, on Earth, but had spent the majority of her life in space - the last five years on the UMS Françoise Dupont, studying as a cadet with hopes of becoming a pilot.

Her parents were not fighters or pilots, but the Universal Military didn't need everyone to rush headfirst into conflict. It needed diplomats and janitors, teachers and engineers, doctors and bakers. A good portion of necessary services could be automated with modern technology, but the Dupont was a Kwamiian ship, one off three fighting vessels given by that race to help their allies in the ongoing conflict with Akum. As such, there was a good deal of support technology that was not designed to work for Earthlings and all that lost functionality had to be replaced with equivalent, Earthling-friendly technology or those services needed to be supplied by living, breathing people.

Marinette's parents were two of those people. They were trained in all manner of food science, from nutrition and meal planning on a large scale, to preparing delicacies for diplomatic events and avoiding food waste in the closed environment of a UM carrier. As their daughter, Marinette joined them among the stars. It was all fascinating and familiar, the only life she could remember, and she looked forward to the day that she could claim the ship as her home through her own merit rather than through her parents.

Despite the facts that the ship was built by the Kwamiians and the countless reminders on every level that this was an alien ship, Marinette had never met an alien. She had studied Kwami and Akum in her classes and knew a little about the Noir and the Volpins, but she really wanted to meet one. Well, maybe not an Akuma.

.o8o.

"Marinette!" called out the now-familiar voice of Alya Cesaire, Marinette's new bestie. "Hurry up. I don't want to be late."

The Cesaires had recently transferred to the UMS Françoise Dupont. Hector, Alya's father, specialized in crypto- and xeno-biology, and had joined the medical staff. Her mother, Magda, was a chef and had joined the kitchen staff which was where she met the Dupain-Chengs. The three shared an instant rapport which was quickly mirrored by their daughters.

"I'm coming," called Marinette, picking up the pace. "Although I don't understand why you are excited to get to class," she added more quietly once she caught up with her friend.

"No special reason," lied Alya. "Today feels like a good day. I just want to start it right. And that means my bestie isn't late for roll call."

Marinette raised an eyebrow but let it slide. Alya wasn't one to keep secrets for long. Whatever had gotten her in her current mood would be made apparent sooner or later.

After attendance, their instructor quickly abandoned the scheduled syllabus. "What can you tell me about the Noir?" she asked to the class in general.

A few hands were raised but the quickest belonged to Max Kant, the star student, who gave a brief summary when called upon: "The Noir are a technologically inferior race who have been all but enslaved or eradicated by the Akuma."

Marinette heard a disgruntled huff at her elbow, followed by a disbelieving, "Not hardly."

The instructor heard it too, and challenged Alya to explain her different viewpoint.

"The Noir were no more technologically inferior than Earthlings were before the Kwamiians took us under their wing," Alya began. "They had rudimentary space travel and man-made satellites, and had begun to explore their solar system. It's just that their home planet was only a few light-years away from Akum, and when the Akuma found them, they bombed the Noir into submission. That could have been us; they were just unlucky."

Miss Bustier nodded and Alya continued. "The Akuma did manage to kill off a large number of Noir at first, but they quickly found out that a Noir is not so easy to kill in a fair fight. Which is why their tactics changed and the Akuma switched to taking Noir children as hostages to keep the remaining population subdued.

"That didn't stop a sizable rebel faction from working with the Kwamiians to destabilize and end the Akuma occupation, but they'll have to work fast to stop the genocide before their population drops below a sustainable number."

Kant glared sullenly. He knew all these facts and didn't appreciate that the newcomer had apparently outshone him.

"Even though they managed to throw the Akuma off their planet, you can bet that their homeworld won't ever recover. Akum scorched the earth when they evacuated," Kant argued. "Even if they survive, the Noir will be permanent refugees."

Marinette wasn't the only one who found the harsh tones of disagreement uncomfortable.

"Hey, where's Cadet Bourgeois?" asked Rose, a born peacemaker.

"She is with the ambassador this morning," volunteered the instructor. "The Françoise Dupont is expecting some important guests, and her father wanted her on hand to help."

Alya nudged Marinette painfully, trying to share the secret she had been sworn to keep. The Françoise Dupont wasn't anywhere near a space station right now, so who could come? How important were these guests to warrant the ambassador dancing attendance on them? And how did that have anything to do with the discussion on the Noir?

Marinette suddenly gasped and looked to her friend with wide eyes. Alya smiled knowingly and nodded once in confirmation.

"A Noir is coming here?" piped up Nathan, having watched the interaction between the two in front. "Today?"

Excitement rippled through the class as Alya cringed and Miss Bustier frowned. "Quiet, please," the instructor called the class to order. "Nothing is confirmed. I'm now going to begin my lecture on the Noir and their fight with the Akuma."

Miss Bustier was as good as her word. It became clear to Marinette as she listened that the Noir were in a very precarious position. More than four-fifths their population had been killed by the Akuma, and much of their home planet had been rendered uninhabitable. Their infrastructure had been destroyed, and sites of cultural significance had been leveled. The conquering Akuma had been ruthlessly lethal.

And yet once the Akuma stopped bombing the planet, once they landed and began to enslave the survivors, the Noir fought back, proving that they too could kill their enemy. Unfortunately, they could not do it on the same scale as the Akuma, and were soon forced to make concessions when the Akuma grabbed children for hostages. Even then, Noir resistance persisted, at great risk to the general population.

The Kwamiians provided aid when they discovered the situation, successfully evicting the Akuma from the Noir's planet. But even that victory was not without an aftertaste of defeat. The Akuma may have left the planet, but they took their slaves and hostages with them. And they were not above broadcasting ritual deaths of their hostages to keep the remaining Noir in line. For the most part, this terror campaign was successful; very few free Noir had anything to do with the Universal Military, the interracial fighting force that opposed the Akuma.

"So if you ever do meet a Noir who is willing to fight," Miss Bustier concluded, "understand the personal loss that leaves him or her free to fight, or imagine the sacrifice - the danger to their loved ones - if the Akuma were to kill their families in retaliation."

It had not been a cheery morning and Marinette was grateful for the break. Still, the depressing fate of the Noir eroded her appetite and she picked at her food listlessly.

"Don't make me tell your parents that you wasted food," Alya warned. It was a very real threat.

Marinette shrugged and took a bite. "It's just -" she began after swallowing her mouthful, "it's just so unfair that the Noir have had to deal with this. It's genocide!"

"I'm sure they'll be glad to hear you're sympathetic to their plight," Alya smirked.

Marinette looked at her friend. "How much do you know?" she asked. "I realise you can't tell me what you know, but can you tell me how much?"

Alya looked uncomfortable. "Every other reassignment, it seems like Dad goes somewhere to learn something new or to brush up his skills. And then the UM sends us to where he needs to put those skills to use. But until he mentioned the Noir this morning, I had no idea who or when or where."

Marinette chewed on that thought. "How long do your dad's assignments typically last?" She knew that Alya had traveled _a lot_ but wasn't yet sure what that meant.

Her friend shrugged. "The longest assignment was three years. The shortest was two months."

"So you'll be gone as soon as the Noir complete their business here?" Marinette liked Alya but it was hard to make lasting friendships in just a few months.

"That depends," Alya wavered. "I'm practically to the point where I need to stay in one place to complete my education. In fact, I think you're stuck with me. Leaving the Françoise Dupont before my few remaining classes end would be pretty foolish. And after I earn my pip, I'll have to go where the UM sends me, although I expect I'll stay here for a while. The carrier has a good training program, and plenty of opportunity to hone my skills with all you rocket jockeys flying around. I'm just not looking forward to staying in the single barracks, not after having lived in family units for so long."

Marinette brightened at the thought that Alya was staying for the long haul. "Well, if you want, the two of us could go in together for a family unit," she offered. It would be fun to have a roommate and to experience the independence of living without her parents.

Alya rolled her eyes. "I like you, Marinette, but not like that."

Marinette blushed and sputtered. "That's not what I meant! Rose said she was going to do the same thing with a friend of hers -"

"Yeah, and I've seen Rose and her 'friend,' and trust me: nuh-uh."

Marinette wanted to argue that Alya was reading more into the situation than was actually there, but the other woman's certainty did not brook opposition. Then the line of Alya's mouth began to wiggle, and at last she was laughing at Marinette's confusion.

"I'm sorry," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "It's just that the look on your face was priceless. If and _when_ my dad gets a new assignment, you'll be my first choice for a roommate. In the meantime, how would you like to be my guest to Ambassador Bourgeois' reception this evening?"

"What!" Marinette squealed in disbelief. "When? How?"

"My mom and I are invited with my dad," Alya explained. "I'm allowed to bring my bestie, if you want to go."

Who could refuse an offer like that?

.o8o.

Marinette fidgeted with the collar of her cadet uniform, her blue-black hair pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She felt terribly plain compared to most of the gathered guests in their sashes and medals, but there was nothing for her to do about it. Besides, Alya was wearing a matching uniform.

The two spent most of their time standing close together, Marinette pointing out the various other guests to Alya who hadn't been on board long enough to recognize them herself. The hangar was filled with people that Marinette knew on sight yet was too shy to approach. Except possibly Chloe Bourgeois, but she was avoiding the ambassador's daughter for other reasons.

At last the guests of honor were announced. Everyone stopped talking and turned to watch the Noir enter the room.

"There are four of them!" Marinette counted for Alya. One was a woman, two were full-grown men, and another was a younger man. It was hard for Marinette to discern much detail as the Noir were all completely black: their black skin was covered in black fur, which was covered in black clothing. The only bit of color on them came from their vibrantly green or blue eyes. Their clothing was completely devoid of insignia or other ornamentation and seemed chosen to match the color of their fur. The fur was short and laid flat and close to their skin with the exception of a long ruff that circled the necks of the older men and a shorter ruff for the woman. Short ears stood near the tops of their heads, and she thought she could see them twitch and move. Combined with the men's manes, they made Marinette think of a cross between lions and panthers from Earth. She couldn't wait to see them up close.

After the Noir delegation promenaded with Ambassador Bourgeois through the hangar to a low dias, a receiving line began to form so that people could personally greet the aliens. Marinette was itching to join the line but Alya held her back until the first rush died down.

Eventually the two women made their way to the front of the line.

"Hey!" exclaimed Marinette. "I know that guy standing next to the younger Noir." She pointed him out to Alya. "His name is Nino Lahiffe. He's a couple years older than we are. He was studying alien languages and communication. I wonder if he's working as their translator?" A minute of observation confirmed that hypothesis.

"Marinette Dupain-Cheng!" Lahiffe greeted her formally before dropping pretense and giving her a hug.

"Nino!" she answered back. "I'm so glad to see you here. Meet my new bestie, Alya Cesaire."

"Cesaire?" he repeated with a note of recognition. "Hector Cesaire's little girl?"

Alya nodded and extended her hand. Nino folded it in both of his own.

"Hector told me he had a daughter, but he didn't say she looked like you," he said. A blush broke out on his face. "Wait, no. That didn't sound like I meant it to. No. I mean that your dad and I have both been involved in a lot of super-hush-hush interdisciplinary meetings over the last few months to prepare for this visit, and a few of us got off-topic on a couple occasions, and he mentioned that he had a family. I thought his kids were younger."

"My brothers are," Alya said, pulling her hand away.

Marinette was worried that it felt awkward, so she turned to the Noir standing next to Nino, anxious to change the topic. "How do you do?" she said with a slight dip of her head. "I'm Cadet Dupain-Cheng." She did not extend her hand. No one else in the line had offered to shake hands with the Noir and she thought it would not be appreciated.

The Noir nodded back. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Cadet. I am Agreste."

Up close, Marinette had to admit that the Noir was very handsome. His eyes were completely green except for the thin sliver of black, like nothing she had ever seen before. She smiled slightly at their mesmerizing effect.

"You are friends with Lahiffe?" he asked.

Marinette mumbled something that sounded like, "yes." It was hard to hear or speak in front of eyes like that.

"She is actually training to be a pilot," Nino offered. "So you will probably be spending a lot of time with each other very soon."

Marinette blinked in surprise. "Wha-what do you mean?"

"Agreste is here to join the training program," Nino explained.

"Seriously?" asked Alya. "That's incredible. I've never heard of a Noir pilot before."

Nino beamed with pride. "My bestie Agrestie is going to be the first."

The Noir looked a little uncomfortable with the praise and turned to Marinette. "You have very beautiful hair for a Noir," he told her sincerely. "May I touch it?"

Marinette felt herself turn red but she nodded. Standing this close, she could see that while all Noir were 'black', they weren't the same shade. The Noir woman standing next to Agreste had red highlights under the lights, and one of the older men had hair that was best described as 'charcoal.' She knew her own black hair has a bluish tint under bright lights of the Kwamiian vessel, and this was not the first compliment she had received on the color.

Nino said something Marinette couldn't understand to Agreste, who answered in the same alien tongue. No doubt they were discussing the etiquette of asking to touch a stranger's hair because Agreste then turned to her and retracted his request. Nino had been gentle, but the young man looked crestfallen at his gaffe.

"Oh, no need to worry," she said, quick to reassure him. "I don't mind. Here, you can feel it." She leaned forward and tilted her head so that he could easily touch the side of her hair.

He made a small indecisive noise then reached out his hand. She could see that his palms were hairless and black, then she felt the slight pressure as he gently brushed her hair. He made an appreciative noise which earned the attention of the Noir woman standing next in line. She spoke, again in that alien language, and Agreste answered. Then Marinette yelped in response to a sharp tug as the Noir woman grabbed a bit of her hair.

Marinette tried not to overreact - now was not the time to cause a diplomatic incident - but she could see Alya's eyes widen in borrowed outrage. Nino was talking quickly, trying to exude calm, and she could tell that Agreste was pulling the woman's hand away from Marinette.

Then she was free, leaning back, straightening her spine. If her face was red, it had nothing to do with how handsome Agreste was.

The woman who had yanked painfully on Marinette's hair looked singularly unapologetic. Then again, maybe that was now the Noir looked when they felt sorry. Then again, Agreste _did_ look sheepish.

The woman said something and Agreste hissed in reply to her. He turned to Marinette. "This is Elathan," he said. "She is very sorry if she hurt you. Your hair is very soft."

She nodded again, then moved with Alya to the older Noir men who were waiting patiently. They greeted the two Earthlings coolly and the young women quickly made their way through the rest of the line.

.o8o.

The initial excitement of meeting the Noir wore off after a few days. The ship buzzed with news of the newest members, but sightings were rare and carefully choreographed.

Marinette had already discarded the idea of Agreste joining her class; she was too far along in her studies for someone to join the lessons unless they were transferring from the same program on a different ship.

Instructor Bustier wrapped up the course with more information on the Noir. On the last day, she prepared them to be handed off to Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt. A chorus of groans greeted the news although Marinette was cheery. D'Argencourt had a formidable reputation but if she did well in his class, she was all but guaranteed a spot on one of the flying squads.

She celebrated that evening with her parents, enjoying a homemade sweet after their meal. She went to bed with her head full of dreams of her future zipping among the stars.

.o8o.

She overslept.

Dashing through the corridors, she made her was to the flight simulator room. Alya was already there, and Marinette dropped thankfully in the empty seat beside her bestie.

Alya teased her good-naturedly for running nearly late but the entire room quickly fell silent as everyone stood when the instructor, Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt, entered the room.

To Marinette's surprise, he was not alone. Trailing in his wake were Agreste and Nino Lahiffe. The three appeared to be engaged in some discussion although Nino's role was only to ensure the other two understood each other. D'Argencourt waved his hand dismissively at the class who resumed their seats.

The colonel asked his two companions where they wanted to sit. Nino turned to confer with the alien but spotted Alya and Marinette in the second row. "How about there?" Nino asked, pointing to the seats in front of the two women. "Front row. We should be able to see the displays clearly and hear everything from there."

As no one else had claimed those spots, the two sat down, Nino sparing a smile for his near neighbors.

With that settled, Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt was ready to begin. He didn't bother with attendance but dove right into his planned lesson.

Ten minutes into a lecture on how to reserve and use the flight simulators, Cadet Chloe Bourgeois entered the room. She handed an excuse to the instructor and then took an open seat in the front row. The colonel was clearly annoyed at her timing but kept to his prepared notes.

Marinette nearly groaned and put her head on her desk as Chloe pulled out her tablet and began recording notes. Chloe was known as Cadet Bourgeois to the instructors but everyone knew she was the ambassador's daughter. For one reason or another, she had taken a dislike to Marinette Dupain-Cheng years ago and by now the feeling was mutual.

The colonel spoke until his voice grew hoarse, then he declared a break. A few students stood up to stretch or walk outside the room.

Nino turned around in his seat to greet Marinette and Alya. Marinette was excited to see her old friend again but Alya was a little cooler. Nino didn't notice her frosty attitude before the ambassador's daughter approached the Noir and tried to get him to sit next to her.

Agreste was polite but he wasn't moving. "Lahiffe is sitting here and I will need to sit next to my translator in case I do not understand the instructor." There had been a few points in the morning's lecture when Agreste had needed to turn to the man beside him for clarification.

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I can help you with anything you need," she assured him. "Besides, you don't want to sit too close to the wrong kind of people," she said with a significant glance at Marinette. "You don't want to give the wrong impression."

Agreste quietly looked at Marinette and Alya, trying to understand how they were the wrong kind of people. He obviously recognized them from the welcome reception, and nothing from that experience reflected poorly on either of them. "What do you mean by 'wrong kind of people?'" he asked innocently.

"Cadet Dupain-Cheng's parents and Cadet Cesaire's mother all work as kitchen staff," explained Chloe. "They are basically servants. You deserve to be around better quality than that. After all, your father -"

The Noir was fast. One moment he had been sitting down, the next he was standing, leaning toward Chloe a little menacingly. Her mouth shut and her eyes widened in response. "I am not here as my father's son," he said levelly. "And why should I worry to sit next to servants when so many Noir are slaves? Is that not lower than a servant?"

He must have felt a moment of doubt over his words because he turned to Nino as if to ask for confirmation. A look of shock gaped up at him. Marinette and Alya, who also had front-row seats to the confrontation, were equally stunned.

His own expression faltered. Agreste made a small noise like an apology then left the room.

Nino was the first to recover. The translator excused himself and went after his bestie.

Alya wasted no time chastening the ambassador's daughter. "Bourgeois, what are you even doing in this class? You're on the diplomatic track," she pointed out. "With a gaffe like that, I guess it just proves that diplomacy doesn't run in the family."

"I don't need to explain myself to the likes of you, Cesaire," spat out the blonde. She would have said more, but the instructor walked in, other cadets trailing behind him. He tolerated neither distraction nor fools and brought the class to order.


	2. The New Ace

Episode 2: The New Ace (12p)

_Episode recap: Cadets take a flight course from famed instructor D'Argencourt._

Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt's course was brutal, that much was expected, but Marinette had no idea how brutal until the grades started to come back. She managed to do alright in the take-home assignments, especially compared to some of her classmates, although she wasn't especially proud of her marks. The in-class exams, however, were another story entirely, and one she didn't want repeated. But try as she might, no matter how hard she studied, she always lost her nerve and devolved into an unconfident mess. She couldn't write and think fast enough to get through the tabs and tabs of questions needed to complete the tests.

It didn't help that Alya was struggling even more than she was, so Marinette had focused their joint study sessions on helping her friend with the concepts that Marinette could at least explain. But it left no real opportunity for her to strengthen her own weaknesses.

It was a cold comfort that everyone seemed to be struggling; everyone except Agreste and Max. But the halfway point was approaching, another point at which anyone who did not meet D'Argencourt's minimum score would be removed from the class. Chloe Bourgeois had not survived the quartermark; the only question was would Marinette and Alya join her in the walk of shame?

Marinette was lucky that part of her grade was earned in the simulator where they had to master different kinds of crafts and different conditions, although she wanted to meet the sadist who decided to make the cadets tow a barge through a destabilized asteroid field if only to yell at them. But even then Marinette didn't get full marks because of Alya. Her bestie was not a pilot, and had no desire to be one. Alya was a mechanical wizard and was on a solid engineering track, but she had stuck with Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt because she was learning so much about spacecraft from a different perspective. The knowledge of just what pilots thought they could do to their craft would greatly prepare her to make sure either the ship was ready to do miracles or the pilot was aware of their limitations.

That didn't make Alya a pilot, though. So when their simulator assignments allowed for a pilot and copilot, Marinette carried her bestie and they shared the points equally. It meant that Alya had a passing grade, and so did Marinette, but barely.

.o8o.

One more point not in her favor was Agreste sitting in front of her during lectures. Alya had had loads of experience meeting alien races, so the Noir was not much of a novelty for her. Nino was there only to help Agreste understand was Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt was saying, so his attention was immaterial. Marinette lacked Alya's experience and Nino's focus, and it was hurting her.

She couldn't stop her eyes from locking onto him as he shifted in his seat to ask Nino a question. It got worse when the translator shrugged and turned around to ask Alya who sat directly behind him. Usually, Alya would nudge her bestie at that point and repeat the question. Then Agreste would look at her, his green eyes bright and curious, and while she knew the answer, she just couldn't articulate the words. Wasn't that the problem to begin with, Agreste's incomplete vocabulary? What good was it for her to use the same words he didn't understand?

She'd just hand him her tablet of notes, he'd take it and scroll through, nod, write something in his own tablet, then return it to her. During these little exchanges, she noticed a ring on his finger, black like the rest of him except for a single green gem that matched the color of his eyes. It was the only piece of ornamentation she had seen on the Noir and she wondered at its significance. When would she know him well enough to ask about it?

During one of these little games of notes-passing, the colonel had grown tired of watching students ignore him. "Dupain-Cheng," he finally snapped, "are you the instructor for this class or am I?"

Habit got Marinette to her feet though her knees were wobbly. "You are, sir," even her voice sounded a little shaky.

"Then refrain from holding court in the middle of my lecture," he chastised her.

"It was my fault, sir," said Agreste, rising to his feet. "I had a question about what you had said and -"

"If you have questions on the lecture, I recommend you speak to someone who has a better grasp of the material," D'Argencourt told him. "You are welcome to bring your question to me in front of the entire class or you may ask me privately rather than disrupting one of the other cadets who cannot afford the distraction."

Marinette's face was burning with shame from being called out so publicly. The consolation of being embarrassed only in front of the class was completely overcome by the realization that people talk, and rumors of this dressing down would be all over the ship by second shift.

"Now sit down, both of you," snapped the colonel. "You've wasted enough time."

They both muttered a "Yes, sir," and dropped into their seats. He continued the lecture despite his obvious irritation, making Marinette flinch every time he delivered some cutting observation in her general direction. Alya tried to soothe her but there was little her bestie could do under D'Argencourt's watchful eyes without making the situation worse.

When the lecture finally ended, Marinette only wanted to crawl into her bunk and hide until she had flunked out from unexcused absences. Alya quietly tried to lure her to the Cesaire quarters where they could snack on sweets and vent against unfair instructors. Agreste stood up and faced her, his mouth already open to say something, when D'Argencourt called out, "Cesaire, Dupain-Cheng, come with me to my office. Now."

There was no opportunity for anything else. It wouldn't matter if Colonel Damocles had personally ordered them to report to the bridge after class to receive commendations, or if the ship had been critically damaged and everyone needed to report to evacuation pods immediately. D'Argencourt wanted them in his office, and refusal wasn't an option. The two women fell in line behind the colonel while the Noir stood rooted to the spot with his mouth hanging open.

The distance to the colonel's office seemed inordinately long, but that was only because Marinette's mind was flying through scenario after nightmare scenario of why Alya and she were being called there. D'Argencourt offered no chitchat during the walk and the cadets couldn't think of anything to say either. He was silent as he unlocked his door and ushered them inside, silent as he unlocked his tablet and pulled some charts to the screen.

"I have noticed an interesting pattern in your scores for the flight simulator, cadets," he said at last, gesturing to the table on display. "In the single-pilot simulations, Dupain-Cheng scores the highest marks in the entire class while Cesaire is uniformly abysmal. In fact, the only time you didn't fail spectacularly was during the simulated engine failure; in that lesson, you were the only pilot who managed to bring your flyer back to the ship. Yet in the pilot-copilot simulations, you two are both equally mediocre. Would you care to explain yourselves?"

They blinked at him, then each other. How would they explain this?

"I'm not a pilot," Alya blurted out. "I can't fly, not well. I'm an engineer, a mechanic. I figure this class will help me be better at that by teaching me how the rocket jockeys approach my ships, all the stupid things they're going to try to do out there. And I'm learning a lot, sir! And the only way I can continue learning is to stay in your class. So Dupain-Cheng has been helping me out. We didn't think it was cheating."

"Do you have any idea how many cadets apply for my class and are turned away?" D'Argencourt asked, narrowing his eyes. "How many potential pilots won't be trained by me because people like you and Bourgeois take their spot? How do you justify to them the opportunity you have stolen?"

"Being in this class is making me a better mechanic," Alya shot back. "Which means more flyers can get back out there faster, with better functionality and fewer mishaps. What good is training an ace when they can't trust their flyer to maneuver in a dogfight or even make it back to the ship on a normal training run?"

"And what about you, Dupain-Cheng?" he asked, swinging his glare to the other cadet. "Cesaire freely admits she doesn't belong in my class. Are you too not meant to be a pilot?"

"I, I, I want to be a pilot, sir," she stammered out.

"Based on your solo performance in the simulator, I'm inclined to agree with you," he admitted grudgingly. "But your written exams are pathetic. Explain yourself."

"I, I, I get nervous," she stuttered. "T-test anxiety. I know the answers, b-b-but I don't know how I know. And when I try to figure it out, it takes too long and I run out of time."

"How can you perform so well under pressure in the simulator yet you fall apart with a written exam?" he asked, and Marinette could not answer him.

D'Argencourt stared at them both with merciless, measuring eyes until they wanted to fidget, but they dared not to move. "Cadet Cesaire," he announced at last, "you may continue to audit my class and use the flight simulator, but I will no longer waste my time grading your work. Cadet Dupain-Cheng, you may continue to be in my class but only if you receive a tutor. I'm sure Captain Kim or Kubdel has someone on their squad who deserves the punishment of tutoring someone like you."

Based on how Marinette's stomach was flipping around inside her, it felt for a moment like the artificial gravity had been turned off. Alya was thrown out of the class, and Marinette… She didn't know if she was being punished or rewarded. Probably it was a little of both. She looked at her bestie, guilt pouring off of her. If Marinette hadn't encouraged Alya to take the course under D'Argencourt, then they wouldn't be in this mess. It was all Marinette's fault.

Alya gave her a comforting smile that seemed to say this was not so bad. Marinette desperately needed to hear the words spoken by her bestie to convince herself that she was not merely imagining it.

"Cesaire, you are dismissed," D'Argencourt broke in. "Dupain-Cheng, come with me. We need to assign you a tutor immediately if you are to have any hope of proving yourself worthy of this favor."

Alya gave a crisp salute and left. D'Argencourt and Marinette soon followed her. After the first intersection, their paths diverged, Alya continued toward the family quarters while the commander led Marinette to the hangars.

He brought her to a cramped and cluttered office which a young man immediately began to organize when D'Argencourt crossed the threshold.

"Captain, this is Cadet Dupain-Cheng," the commander said without preamble. "Her simulator scores are good but her exam grades are pathetic. I want you to find her a tutor so she can pass my class."

Captain Kim sized her up. He rubbed his chin in thought before he got a wicked glint in his eyes. "I have just the man. He'll be back on shift tomorrow."

"Then Dupain-Cheng will report here directly after class." The two men having settled her fate to their satisfaction, they parted ways. Marinette was dismissed and walked to her family's quarters. She sent an apologetic message to Alya who replied with a too-brief, "No worries. See you tomorrow." Marinette wished that she could spend time with Alya to make sure her bestie bore no ill will for what had happened, but perhaps it was best to give Alya some time to grow resigned to D'Argencourt's decision. And Marinette had work to do for class; Alya might not be interested in churning through some problems, but Marinette couldn't afford to slack now.

It would probably be a few hours until her parents returned from their shift and various errands. It should give her time to make a dent in the list of calculations she had to solve. But as she approached the entrance to her quarters, her feet slowed. Sitting in front of the door was Agreste, and he had obviously been waiting for her.

"Dupain-Cheng!" he called out in relief, climbing to his feet.

"Agreste? How do you know where I live?" she said, then wanted to smack herself. She couldn't remember many coherent statements she had made to him, much less giving out the deck and cabin assigned to her family. But she likewise couldn't remember making such an unwelcoming comment.

"Lahiffe told me. He's with Cesaire right now, apologizing for his role in getting her in trouble. I had to come to apologize for getting you in trouble today." She might berate herself for seeming unfriendly but he was too absorbed in his own guilt to notice. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to call the colonel's attention to you. I didn't realize -" It really looked like he intended to apologize for every detail.

"Agreste, don't worry about me," she stopped him. "Besides, Alya got it worse."

He tilted his head to the side in confusion. She sighed and explained that Alya had been cut from the class. He nodded at hearing this. "Yes, she told us," he admitted, "but she did not act unhappy with herself."

Marinette was surprised and relieved to hear that. She had expected her bestie to be as crushed as Marinette would be with that fate. "Yeah? Well, D'Argencourt is assigning me a tutor, so I guess it works out for both of us."

"A tutor?" he repeated. "That's great news. Honestly, I'm surprised that you need one. Your notes are always so clear when I read them."

"It's a lot easier to copy down in class with no pressure than it is to write out on an exam under a time crunch," she said rolling her eyes at her own foolishness. "Besides, you tend only to need notes on the stuff I understand."

"I'm glad you're getting a tutor, but if you needed help, you know you could have asked me for it sooner," he offered tentatively.

She blinked, not sure what to say. It was unexpected that the alien, who was still struggling with the language, would offer to divert his precious time and energy to someone else.

"You don't need to do that," she told him.

"You cannot know what was needed until it is too late, so be helpful always and do not lose yourself to dark thoughts," he answered, sounding like a proverb.

"That sounds like good advice," Marinette smiled. He was trying to be friendly, the least she could do was return the favor. They sat near each other in class and - if she passed - would be assigned to squads at the same time, possibly to the same squad. She ought to outgrow whatever awkwardness she felt around Agreste and be friends with him. "Have… Have you started on today's assignment? I won't meet my tutor until tomorrow, so if you wanted to stay and work, you… you could."

Seeing his expression brighten, she felt stupid for not asking him before.

.o8o.

The next day Capt. "Mad Dog" Kim greeted Marinette with a wicked grin, like he had something painful waiting for her. He called for someone named "Stone Heart" who looked every bit of a golem when his large form blocked the doorway to Kim's office. Marinette unconsciously cowered which elicited a snort of amusement from the lieutenant.

"Cadet Dupain-Cheng, this is Stone Heart, your new babysitter," Kim said. "Stoney, you're responsible for making sure this newbie doesn't fail D'Argencourt's class." Having performed the necessary introductions, Kim now hustled the two from his office, trusting them to find a way to succeed or fail on their own.

Marinette was initially intimidated by her new tutor but she quickly learned that Stone Heart was named ironically and Ivan - his real name - was a nurturing softy. Between tutoring sessions with him thrice weekly, and doing homework with Agreste, her grades rapidly improved.

She felt bad about not spending as much time with Alya, who had seriously cut back on studying now that she wasn't being graded, but her bestie was spending time with other new friends like Nino Lahiffe, and Alya always made time to join Marinette in the simulator.

The time she spent with Agreste was eye-opening. She tried not to deluge him with questions about what it was like being an alien, to focus instead on the coursework at hand, but her curiosity was slowly being satisfied. She learned that the other three Noir on the Françoise Dupont besides himself and Elathan were named Gore and Plagg; that Noir had only one public name. That Noir genealogical records were very rare; the Akuma had destroyed much of it during their original offensive, and what little that remained was erased to protect the families of Noir freedom fighters from being punished or executed in retaliation.

The saddest story of all, though, had to be that of Agreste's ring. It was a memento of his mother, who had been killed by the Akuma. Many Noir wore such a ring, with a jewel for each person close to them who had died at the hands of the Akuma. Gore, he told her, had five stones in his ring.

But not every fact was built on sadness and loss. Noir ears twitched, for instance, when they laughed, and they had a strong partiality for anything made with lots of butter. She also found out that Agreste tended to hum when he was concentrating. It was annoying at first but became less so when Nino told her to think of the noise as a purr.

Ivan taught her a great deal about being on the gold flight squad in between her lessons. It sounded like a lot of tedium interspersed with brief moments of heart-pounding thrills which in no way discouraged her interest.

Ivan observed her a few times in the simulator, mostly to see how well she could put her lessons to use. This in turn caught the attention of "Queen Bee" Kubdel, the leader of the red squad who sent her second-in-command, Barbot "The Hornet", to take her measure.

Kubdel felt certain that D'Argencourt recognized enough potential in Marinette to be worth the effort of nurturing it. Mad Dog and the gold squad might have an inside track on recruiting the cadet, but Queen Bee was not above stealing her for the red squad if Marinette proved worthy of it.

Hornet could often be found buzzing around the simulator during Marinette's trials. He easily struck up conversations with Marinette and Alya, offering to review the recording of their performance to give them pointers for the next time. He was friendly with Alya but he was flirty with Marinette. The young woman, however, didn't recognize his interest no matter how much her bestie would tease her about it.

"You're imagining things, Alya," she once said. "Hornet, Stone Heart… they're just curious to see if I'm good enough to join their squads."

Alya only shook her head at her friend's blindness. If Alya was right, Hornet Barbot was not the type to let Marinette wander in ignorance for long. She decided to help accelerate matters by skipping one or two sessions in the simulator, giving Hornet unrivaled access to her bestie.

Whether he realized Alya was lending a hand or not, he took advantage of the opportunity.

"You are too good of a pilot to waste on the gold squad," Hornet observed after critiquing her flight. "If you end up under Mad Dog, it'll be a tragedy."

Marinette laughed at that. The flyers were an overconfident, trash-talking group. "Don't say that. I want to be a pilot. For all his bluster, Capt. Kim is a good guy."

Hornet rolled his eyes. "He's mediocre at best, and he attracts mediocre talent," said Hornet. "How would you feel about joining the red squad? Queen Bee has asked me to check you out."

"The red squad?" Marinette repeated. She honestly didn't know which squad was best. Both had good pilots and strong leaders. But it was nice to feel wanted.

"I talk with the Queen every day. I can talk to her about you, tell her about how well you handle yourself in the simulator, how you keep your head, all good things," he dangled the offer on front of her, "if you want."

She giggled and tried to find a way to bring this conversation to a less awkward equilibrium. Stone Heart has impeccable timing, appearing out of nowhere and announcing he was ready for Marinette's lesson. She shyly bid good day to Hornet, leaving without giving him an answer.

The pilot was too confident to be hurt. The suspense of waiting for her reply had no sting. After all, the question was not iwhether/i she would accept but iwhen/i.

.o8o.

The final exam was not a written test but a trip through the simulator. It had something of a festive atmosphere with students and pilots and friends gathered in the hangar to watch the surviving cadets climb into the box. Their escapades were broadcast on screens for the observers to see. Each session lasted about 30 minutes, and each was slightly different so that there was no intrinsic advantage to going last. In fact, students were grouped so that those with the lowest grades went first and the scenarios tended to get more difficult as the hours past.

Marinette, Max Kant, and Agreste were the last remaining cadets. D'Argencourt insisted that the three draw lots to determine their order. Max went first.

Twenty minutes into his simulation, after following the instructions to perform various turns and evasive maneuvers, an Akuma flyer came out of nowhere to strafe his wing. A collective gasp came from the spectators; this was the first sign of intentional hostility they had seen during the exams. Kant was rattled but shook it off. He returned fire, made a hit which was loudly cheered by the gathered crowd, and then his sensors detected more and larger ships headed his way. He used his remaining three minutes to flee to safety.

When Max Kant walked out of the hatchway, he was greeted with cheers and applause. He blinked almost owlishly at the attention before smiling brightly and raising his fist in victory. The crowd cheered even louder.

Agreste was next. His simulation started him in orbit above a ringed planet. He skillfully obeyed instructions to weave through the debris that composed the rings. The rings were mostly composed of a fine dusty powder but occasionally objects larger than Agreste's flyer whirled by for added difficulty. Again at the 20 minute mark an Akuma flyer attacked, chasing the Noir through the debris in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Finally, Agreste turned the tables on his pursuer, landing a direct hit to the engines that left the foe unable to steer. The ship crashed into a space boulder. Before the explosion could blank the displays, the simulation ended.

Just as with Max, Agreste was greeted with applause. He scanned the crowd, searching for someone. Marinette felt his green eyes alight on her briefly before moving on, eventually settling on a Noir - Gore, she thought - who gave an approving nod. Agreste's demeanor changed from tense to giddy. He made a few victory yells which were echoed by his classmates.

Then it was her turn.

Marinette had watched her peers with pride and a little envy at their performance. Max and Agreste were good pilots. Marinette was too; she had to be good to make it into the top three. But she wasn't feeling good or confident now. She was nervous, and her stomach and bladder were vying for the award "Most Difficult Organ." And she was last. That probably meant a more difficult run, didn't it? But what could be worse than 10 minutes of being chased by an Akuma?

Alya squeezed her hand and whispered, "You got this."

Marinette nodded convincingly and took her seat in the simulator cockpit.

The cockpit was configured to be a fast, single-seated flyer like Hornet and Stone Heart flew. She strapped the oxygen mask to her face, plugged the communication line into her helmet, and signaled she was ready to begin.

D'Argencourt disembodied voice calmly told her to prepare a truncated launch sequence. It wasn't typically recommended to cut corners, but sometimes there was greater safety in speed. Marinette breezed through the checks then sent her flyer hurtling out of the imaginary carrier.

She found herself in the middle of a firefight. Nimble Akuma craft were swarming the ship, demolishing its defenses piecemeal. Other Earth craft were split between protecting the vulnerable engines and trying to chase off the attackers.

"What do I do?" Marinette cried into the comm link. She saw a number of opportunities to join the fight, but she ought to know her mission.

A sharp crackle and a hiss was all that answered her. In this teeming, violent multitude, she was alone.

An Akuma nearly crashed into her, shaking her out of her stupor. She grabbed the stick and took off.

With no auditory communication, she needed to rely on what she could see through the visor. She took a quick tour of the carrier, exchanging fire with the enemy as she passed them, trying to get a feel for where she could make the most difference.

She soon spotted a squad of six Akuma flyers that were harassing an Earthling squad with deadly efficiency. In a blink she made them her mission. Her gun was already hot so it was only a matter of locking onto a slippery target. She fired three times in rapid succession. The first shot went wide, lost to the infinite vacuum of space; the second struck her target on the wing, a relatively harmless shot; the third was a direct hit and she had the satisfaction of watching the small alien craft explode.

She was able to fire off a few more rounds - none fatal but combined they were debilitating enough to remove another flyer from the equation - before the rest of the Akuma squad had put her in their sights. She flew off, clinging to the nap of the carrier, weaving and twirling to keep them from locking on her, trying to figure out how she was going to turn the tables again.

She saw a chance and looped around the nose of the ship. For a brief stretch, she crossed paths with her pursuers. Her trigger finger was ready and she opened fire. The first shot was a solid hit and she watched the Akuma spin out of control, knocking into one of its squad mates and sending the second flyer on a collision course with the unyielding carrier.

Marinette would have loved to revel in her luck, but the two remaining Akuma were back on her tail and she needed to be focused on the task of not dying. She raced across the bottom of the carrier, weaving an erratic pattern but traveling generally from bow to stern. She didn't want to distract her enemies with the carrier's engines but she hoped to shake them in the melee of other dog fights. They should be reluctant to fire at her if a missed shot might strike one of their own.

With a quick burst of acceleration she blew through a crowd of flyers. The two Akuma followed her; one got its wing clipped in the crossfire, sending it spiralling off course. Only one remained but he was hot on her tail.

Before she could wonder how she was going to shake him, a warning noise began to go off. She raked her eyes over the instrument panel, searching for a flashing light synchronized with the shrill beep. Had she been hit?

Before she could identify the problem, the visor went black and the joystick which had previously been so responsive became locked in a resting position.

D'Argencourt's cool voice sounded in her ears. "Your time is up, Cadet Dupain-Cheng. Please exit the simulator."

Marinette blinked in surprise. The adrenalin racing through her veins had forgotten that this was fake. With shaking hands, she unhooked the oxygen mask and unbuckled the strap of her helmet. Removing the helmet and setting it aside, she took a moment to press the heels of her hands against her eyelids and just breathe. Having centered herself, she finally unfastened the safety restraints and moved to the hatch.

The sound was deafening when she broke the seal. Everyone was cheering for her. For her! Alya was jumping and whistling. Max and Agreste were clapping. Pilots already assigned to squads were suitably impressed. Mad Dog and Stone Heart were shouting for joy.

And then Hornet approached her. "That's my new ace!" he shouted, grabbing her hand and raising it in triumph.

Marinette's body was humming with excitement. She let out a small whoop and a grin split her face.

Hornet dropped her hand to wrap his arm around her waist. With his other hand he cupped her cheek and pulled her into a fierce kiss in front of everybody.

They just cheered harder.


	3. Change Your Spots

**UMS Françoise DuPont**

* * *

EPISODE 3: Change Your Spots

* * *

_Episode recap: Newly minted graduates are assigned to flight squads, but then the squads receive an unwelcome shake-up._

Second Lieutenant Marinette Dupain-Cheng had a boyfriend.

She knew that's how it looked to people who were at the final exam, what they mentioned to their family and friends later, what spread as gossip over the entire ship. That's certainly how Hornet thought of himself. Even her parents had referred to him as her boyfriend and she had not corrected them. That had to make it official.

Her boyfriend was named Hornet.

Marinette cringed at the name. Hornet was a horrible name for a boyfriend. She wished she could call him something else, such as the name his parents gave him, but it seemed too late now. Her boyfriend was named Hornet, and she saw him nearly every day in 12-hour shifts.

Of course Marinette was assigned to the red squad, Hornet's squad. Queen Bee Kubdel had first pick this time around of the new cadets, and Marinette's performance in the final exam had secured her the top spot. It was just icing on the cake that her boyfriend was Queen Bee's second in command. Every time Mad Dog looked at her, she could swear he was dismembering her in his imagination. Stone Heart was just disappointed. Kant was bitter. Agreste innocently tried to cling to the camaraderie they had built during their course together. But with Agreste and Kant assigned to the gold squad, she'd have to replace their growing closeness for an amicable rivalry.

Part of the initiation into the squad was picking a new name, her pilot name. The entire red squad had chosen insect names - Queen Bee, Hornet, Scarab, Wasp, Mantis, Recluse, Hopper - and Marinette wanted to fit in. Once a sobriquet was chosen, someone would design a personal logo to decorate the helmet; Queen Bee has a crown over her forehead; Hornet had the silhouette of a horned insect.

it was a big decision that would follow her throughout her career. Marinette wracked her brain trying to think of a good name, one she wouldn't mind hearing when people spoke of her for the next 20 years, one that sounded like something a guy would want to call his girlfriend.

She brought her problem to Nino Lahiffe (the name, not the boyfriend) because the linguist had a way with words that Marinette felt she distinctly lacked at this time.

Nino studied the red helmet that Marinette would wear. "Maybe you can think of a red insect," he suggested, "something to look good against the red background?"

What insects were red? So few insects were welcome on a ship that Marinette had little exposure to them. "What about butterflies?" she suggested. "They can be colorful."

Nino tapped on his tablet. "What about this?" he asked, showing her an image. "It's not exactly red, but orange is pretty close."

Marinette peered at the butterfly on the screen then read the caption: Monarch. She ran through a few sentences in her head to test it out. "Let's meet up with Monarch after exercises. Monarch makes the best chocolate cake. Meet my girlfriend Monarch."

She smiled at her friend. "Monarch it is!"

.o8o.

"No," stated Queen Bee emphatically. "Absolutely not. This squad has one queen and that's me. You're not calling yourself Monarch. Pick a different name or I'll pick it for you."

Marinette stood wide-eyed and flustered as her squad leader yelled at her. She hadn't seen the conflict until Capt. Kubdel pointed it out, that by calling herself a monarch she was effectively stating she was on par with the queen, overriding the natural pecking order within the squad that had Marinette, as the newest member, on the bottom.

She apologized and backtracked, promising to come up with something else before her next shift started.

"You'd better," warned Kubdel, "or I'm calling you Dung Beetle."

Marinette bolted out of the little office. Hornet saw her rushing away clearly upset and called after her. She didn't want to see him right now. She didn't want to see anyone really. With an added jolt of speed she sped off. Thankfully he did not follow her.

She now has a very pressing deadline for finding a name, and a strong motivation for picking something. Just about anything would be nicer than Dung Beetle! But what should she choose? She was sure her boyfriend had thought "Hornet" was a good name at the time, but it had not aged well.

She went back to her family's quarters, intended on hiding in her room and waiting for inspiration to strike. Her parents surprised her by greeting her in the front room.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked without thinking.

"We live here, you know," her dad teased.

"Our shift is over and we wanted to relax at home," her mother answered more sensibly.

Marinette nearly clapped her hand to her forehead. Joining a flyer squad had gotten her days and nights all turned around. Given, that was easy enough to do on a ship where people worked at all hours making "day" and "night" a social construct, but now she was one of those people with the crazy hours.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I just got snapped at by my squad leader and I need to come up with a name, and it better be a bug, and I'm going to be stuck with it for the rest of my life and -"

"Whoa, sweetie! Slow down," counselled her dad. "We can help you, but only if we can understand the problem."

Marinette took a deep breath and held it for a moment before slowly exhaling. Then she plopped down between her parents and explained.

"You're looking for a red insect?" her mother concluded. "What about the ladybug? They're red, and a sign of good luck."

Marinette furrowed her brow in thought, absentmindedly getting up to go to her own room and consider all the possibilities. Her parents shared a look but let it slide. Their daughter was technically an adult but sometimes she was more of an adult than others.

She drifted off to sleep with facts of ladybugs floating through her dreams. By the time she awoke, the decision was made. She was Ladybug.

.o8o.

Queen Bee grudgingly accepted Marinette's new name. "I am partial to Dung Beetle," she said. "Don't make me regret giving you this latitude."

Part of her knew that this unkindness was only temporary, to break the ice, but the rest of her really wanted to skip this part and get to the point where she was a welcome and respected member of the squad. She had already gone through this once with Mad Dog when Stone Heart was tutoring her. She hadn't enjoyed the hazing under the gold leader and it seemed as if she wouldn't enjoy it under the red leader.

Having Hornet as her boyfriend had not helped ease the comments. In fact, it seemed to make them worse, opening Marinette to a whole genre of crude comments that she wouldn't be subjected to otherwise.

But she put that unpleasantness behind her to share her news with the members of the red squad who were working outside Queen Bee's office. Hornet of course was there because he was always there. There was no escaping her boyfriend.

He pulled her into a showy embrace. "I was looking forward to Dung Beetle, but I admit I'd rather kiss Ladybug more," he teased, then pressed his mouth to hers.

Marinette internally groaned as Recluse made ill-concealed gagging noises at the public display of affection and Scarab threatened to douse the pair in flame retardant.

Hornet pulled away and winked at her, Marinette smiled weakly back. It wouldn't be so bad if he was a good kisser but every kiss was the same. When she had first emerged from the simulator to the cheers and support of her peers, she had been overcome with emotion. Hornet grabbing her and covering her mouth with his own had felt wrong but within tolerances. The kiss was sloppy, poorly aimed, and slobbery, but perhaps he was too swept up in the excitement for precision. The kisses that followed, however, were just as careless and messy. Marinette was slowly forced to realize that her boyfriend had one style of kissing and it was wrong for 99.5% of the time.

Before Hornet completely released her, Queen Bee came out of her office. "Bug, keep your hands to yourself during duty hours," Queen scolded. "It's unprofessional."

Marinette mumbled a hasty apology. It would be pointless to say that neither the hug nor the kiss were her idea, and everyone else thought it was funny.

"Ladybug," Queen Bee continued once Marinette was standing with her limbs unentangled, "I want you to hand-carry this duty roster over to the gold squad and get Mad Dog's sign-off. Don't leave his side until you get that signature."

Marinette tried not to frown. "Can't we just use the ship's comm system to send the roster?" Surely there was a more important use of her time than this? Besides, the red and gold squads' active hours were arranged so that she'd have to wait another shift to collect that signature.

Capt. Kubdel narrowed her eyes. "That sort of insubordination sounds like it would come from Dung Beetle. I would have thought Ladybug would jump at the chance to be helpful."

Marinette nodded as an undercurrent of snickers turned her ears red. "Yes sir," she said meekly and grabbed the proffered papers.

.o8o.

Capt. Kim had glared at her when she entered his own small office hours later. "Captain Kubdel needs your signature on this schedule," she explained, setting the papers in front of him.

He studied the pages with the distinct aura of a man intent on finding fault.

"Just who is Ladybug?" he asked eventually, as if the red squad had had a large number of new recruits.

"I'm Ladybug," said Marinette. "It's the only red insect I could find. I tried going with a monarch butterfly, but -"

"You did what?! I wish I could've seen her reaction." The mirthful glint was back in his eyes briefly before he shoved the papers away. "Yeah, well, I can't sign this now. Come back in a few hours."

"But I can't go off-shift until you sign it," she tried not to whine. "I'm not supposed to leave your side."

"What did you say?" Mischievousness hardened into wickedness. "She told you that you literally couldn't leave my side until I signed this? Oh fantastic! Suit up, Ladybug. We're going on patrol."

"What!" Marinette was incredulous. "I can't go flying with you. She'll skin me alive."

Mad Dog chuckled. "Kid, you were screwed the moment you got out of bed. It doesn't matter if you stay behind or come out with me, you're getting in trouble. And when I send one of my new guys over to Queen Bee in a few days on some jacked-up errand, you can bet they'll be just as screwed. This is a game you cannot win, so why not have a little fun with it?"

Marinette wavered, which Mad Dog took for acquiescence. He called out to Stone Heart and told the other pilot that he was exerting some executive privilege and would be taking the other's scheduled flight.

"But today's the day that Gore was going to take Black Cat and I was going to take Mecha and -"

Mad Dog slammed his fist down on the desk. "Even better! Ladybug, today is your lucky day."

.o8o.

Queen Bee's reaction was nuclear. It was not tempered by the events of the flight itself. Marinette's ears had popped as they launched from the hangar bay. Ten minutes in, the pressure difference on her ears only grew more painful. A headache started to form behind her eyes and it became harder to focus on the task at hand. When she couldn't hide the symptoms anymore, Mad Dog called both flyers in.

Marinette could barely get out of the small craft when they landed back in the hangar. Her legs were jelly and her arms ached. She attempted to apologize to the gold leader but he just laughed it off. It was not her fault that she succumbed to decompression sickness so quickly. But it would ground her until a doctor could clear her for active duty. It was a prank he had intended to play on Max Kant but after Queen Bee had delivered her new ace into his clutches, Mad Dog couldn't resist the temptation. Besides, he'd rather not knock out one of his own flyers if he could pester his rival.

Captain Kubdel dumped every possible demeaning task she could think onto Marinette's shoulders once she returned from the infirmary with a portable breather. She had taken a short nap after the doctor had treated her before she had been released - she had been in too much pain to rest until then - but she had otherwise been up for an entire day and she could tell that part of her headache was due to exhaustion.

But there was no rest for the wicked or the weary. Queen Bee has the second lieutenant running ragged all over the carrier for one quixotic quest after another for the entire shift. And Marinette couldn't argue that she deserved better treatment. A squad held eight flyers, with six of them needing to be flight-ready at all times. If one flyer was out of commission, that meant that somebody else wasn't getting a day off, which brought down the performance and the morale of the whole team.

Hornet tried to comfort her, but his methods struck her as unwelcome. He was constantly pulling her aside to tell her not to worry or trying to invent ways to repay the gold squad for this prank when what she really wanted to do was keep her head down and get her work done. At the end of their shift, he dragged her to one of the cantinas near the hangar bays and bought her something sweet to cheer her while he ran through his favorite methods of payback. As she sat nibbling on something far below the quality of her parents' scraps, with tastebuds that were still dulled by decompression, he offered to escort her back to her quarters and give her something else equally sweet.

Inwardly she was cringing, but she just frowned and politely declined. She just wanted to be alone and asleep for the next 12 hours. Not to be totally denied, he leaned over the table and gave her a sloppy wet kiss. When he pulled away, she repositioned the breathing tube and surreptitiously wiped her mouth. She wished she could teach him how to kiss better. Before she could wonder how, or whether she even wanted to bother, someone else walked up to their table.

"Hello Dupain-Cheng," the newcomer called in greeting.

"Hey Agreste," she answered with a slight smile.

The Noir quickly asked if she was feeling better and Marinette was able to duck her head in a nod. 'Better' was measured on a sliding scale and she wouldn't feel normal for a few days yet, much less be cleared to fly.

"We're having a private conversation here. Scat!" Hornet barked before Agreste could add anything else. Marinette looked aghast at him, her mouth falling open. Where did this anger come from?

Agreste was just as confused as Marinette. Then Hornet turned to her and winked so that the Noir couldn't see. She got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that this was somehow related to the payback he had been talking about.

The lieutenant then stood to his full height - it could have been imposing to Marinette but not so much to the alien - and his hand curled into a fist at his side. "I suggest you walk away while your legs can still carry you," he warned ominously.

Agreste just looked at him in wide-eyed disbelief. It honestly didn't occur to him that the Earthling was actually threatening him until Hornet threw the first punch.

But a Noir is hard to beat in a fair fight.

.o8o.

Agreste was suspended for two weeks for participating in the fight. There were other consequences, but they were addressed privately among the Noir. His greatest fear, that he would be removed from service entirely, was avoided this time but one could easily suppose the threat kept him disciplined from then on.

Plagg, the most senior Noir on the UMS Françoise Dupont, had balanced a fine line between the grave disappointment that the youngest member of his delegation had behaved so foolishly, and the fury that this same member had needed to defend himself from an attack by a supposed ally. When Plagg met with Ambassador Bourgeois and Colonel Damocles, there was a fire in his eyes that offered to burn the guilty and the innocent alike. What the marines wouldn't do to Agreste in punishment would surely be meted out by himself and Gore, that much was guaranteed. However, what would be done to the Earthling that had initiated the fight? There were not so many free Noir left in the universe that they ought to stay where they were unwelcome or threatened. While it was certainly a heroic thing for a young Noir like Agreste to wish to fight the Akuma, that was no need for him to spend time with the sort of barbarian who attacked an ally.

After some discussion it became clear to the ambassador that either the lieutenant who started the fight needed to leave the carrier or the four Noir would go. Agreste was still in the Marines, still a pilot; he couldn't just go AWOL, but Plagg was extremely well-connected and wasn't reticent about calling in favors to get a reassignment. The cachet of having Noir on their vessel was too strong, the sting of losing them to a lapse in discipline too painful, Ambassador Bourgeois and Colonel Damocles decided that Lt. Barbot had to go.

Unaware of his fate, Hornet was called to see the colonel after he left the infirmary. Queen Bee accompanied him in equal ignorance; much as she thought he deserved whatever punishment her second might receive, she wanted to be the one doling it out, and she would defend him from his stupidity to the best of her ability.

Damocles lost no time in explaining that Barbot was suspended from duty and confined to certain areas of the carrier until he could be transferred elsewhere. "As you are a competent pilot with an otherwise unblemished record, I'm sure it won't be long," he consoled.

Queen Bee and Hornet were stunned. While Hornet stood there mute and numb, his leader sputtered the beginning of a protest.

Damocles cut her off before she could dig too deep. "Kubdel, you will also be censured for this lapse of discipline directly under your command, but it will wait until you can appoint a new second-in-command and until Dupain-Cheng returns from medical suspension. Until the red squad can have enough active flyers, I can't afford to take you off duty."

"Fat chance of me letting Ladybug back in a cockpit after this!" Queen Bee spoke without thinking.

Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt glared coldly. "Perhaps it would be best for your team to remove Dupain-Cheng and, with her, the source of conflict and ill-will."

Queen Bee knew this was a trap, knew she shouldn't try to take the offer, but right now she was too angry to be level-headed. And it seemed that everything Ladybug touched turned sour. "It would hardly change my present situation," she said instead. "She's of no use to me the way she is right now, and at the rate bad luck is drawn to her, she probably won't be able to fly as soon as you like."

D'Argencourt nodded. "Colonel Damocles, may I suggest a reassignment?" he said. "I had three recent graduates who became flyers. Two went to the gold team. One of them, Agreste, should probably not be reassigned due to optics, but the other, Max Kant, may be a better fit for Captain Kubdel's leadership style."

"You want to move Kant to the red team," Damocles restated, "in exchange for Dupain-Cheng."

"Dupain-Cheng had spent significant hours with members of the gold team while she was my student," D'Argencourt revealed. "She is already familiar with them. And if she cannot find a way to fit under Captain Kim, then there is obviously no place for her here."

"D'Argencourt, I trust you to take care of it," the colonel declared.

.o8o.

Marinette tried to figure out how to react when Hornet told her he was leaving the Françoise Dupont. He asked her to come with him, but she couldn't. She didn't love him, didn't want to go with him, but she didn't want to hurt him with that truth on top of everything else. "My parents are here," she said instead. And that was enough.


	4. Training Exercise

**UMS Françoise DuPont**

* * *

EPISODE 4: Training Exercise

* * *

_Episode recap: A routine training exercise leaves two sets of people trapped together._

"Have you noticed anything between Nino and Alya?" Marinette asked her Noir squad mate.

Agreste stilled. She could imagine him listening to her words, translating them, trying to figure out what she had meant by them, then formulating and translating his own reply. "Noticed what?" he asked, turning his green eyes on her. She was usually fine as long as she didn't look into his eyes.

"Ni-Nino likes Alya," she said.

The pause was infinitesimal. "Nino likes people."

"He _likes_ her," she restated with emphasis. Marinette had known Nino long enough to recognize when he found someone attractive. And she had seen Nino in company with Alya enough times - starting with their first meeting - to recognize that he liked Alya. With a frown she had to admit to herself that she didn't know her bestie to the same degree.

Agreste matched her expression, trying to understand.

Marinette sighed and thought of how to explain this to an alien. "How does a Noir show he's attracted to someone?" she asked, trying to put it in terms he understood.

If she thought Agreste had been still before, she needed to recalibrate. The very air around him seemed not to move. "Why do you ask?" he said quietly.

"I-I just…" It was his stupid eyes making her blush and stutter. "I just… Nino is attracted to Alya. That's what I meant."

The air around him relaxed. "Really? How do you know? And Alya _likes_ him too?" He did a good mimic of her earlier emphasis.

Marinette frowned again, more at ease now that he was not staring at her. "I haven't known her for very long; she only came aboard a few months before you arrived, and I haven't seen her develop any obvious crushes yet," she explained. "But I think she does."

Now that Hornet was off the ship, Marinette felt like her life could use a little proxy romance, and watching it blossom between her longtime friend Nino and her new bestie Alya would be immensely satisfying. It had to be better than listening to Stone Heart moon about his fiancée.

"I think she does," she said thoughtfully. "All she needs is a little push. "

.o8o.

Humor was a cross-cultural challenge for the translator. So much of what was funny couldn't be directly translated, not between the languages that Nino spoke.

Physical humor was a touchy subject. While the sight of someone slipping and falling might make one person peel with laughter, another might be too empathetically worried to see any humor while a third might interpret that as license to knock down everyone. No, physical humor was off-limits unless Nino knew his audience well.

Word-play was safer and more rewarding. To watch his pupils come to understand the different levels of a pun in a new language was often better than the joke itself. Although it took a lot longer for people to develop the understanding to engage in word-play.

The Noir, however, had a quiet and often wicked sense of humor provided they ever showed any sign of it. Gore and Elathan seemed completely humorless. Plagg's ears almost always seemed to be quivering with hidden amusement, often at someone else's expense. But Nino had great hope for Agreste who seemed keen to integrate himself into the dominant culture, including the jokes.

So it was with consternation that Nino fixed his eyes at the door which had just been shut and locked behind him.

"Agreste?" he called. "Bestie? What's going on?" Without warning, the Noir pilot had shoved his translator into a small dark room.

"Someone needed a push," came the reply. Laughter was evident in the tone.

With a grimace, Nino realized his friend was making a joke. He made a show of laughing then called out, "Okay, you got me. Now let me out."

There was no reply.

For five minutes, Nino stood in that glorified closet and tried to reason with an alien who was gone, busy setting the next phase of his plan into motion.

Eventually he heard the lock click open. Before he could dart through the open door, someone else was thrust into his arms in the tiny space. While he was untangling their limbs, a door was shut and locked again.

"What the what is going on?" cried the other person. Her voice identified her as Alya Cesaire.

"I think Agreste is trying to be funny," Nino sighed.

"Lahiffe?"

A brief explanation followed, or at least an educated guess. Agreste had locked them in the closet, probably thinking it was funny. Only time would tell if he planned on shoving more people into the closet before letting them out.

"So we're just supposed to sit tight until he comes back?" She was not pleased.

Nino leaned against the wall. "I don't want to get him in trouble," he said. "He's still on probation after taking out that other pilot in the cantina."

"Well, how are we supposed to pass the time?"

.o8o.

Marinette could see Agreste's ears twitching riotously as he approached. "What's so funny?" she asked as she continued her pre-flight check. The two of them were scheduled to practice some lightspace jumps and she didn't want to go through another round of decompression sickness or worse.

"I just locked Nino Lahiffe in a closet with Alya Cesaire," he announced joyfully.

"You did what?" she nearly shrieked, her checklist clattering to the hangar floor.

"You said they just needed a push, so I pushed them." His ears twitched at the memory.

"Into a closet?" She blinked.

He smiled, looking so proud of himself. Marinette thought this through. Maybe this literal push was what Alya needed to start something with Nino.

"Agreste! You could get in trouble. We could both get in trouble. We need to let them out," she said as a grin grew on her face, "as soon as we come back from this training run."

Agreste's ears wriggled and his eyes widened in delight.

The two completed their safety checks under the supervision of Stone Heart and Reflecta. The two experienced pilots had already sat in the 'nag saddle' on earlier training runs to observe and correct the newbies. Today, however, Marinette and Agreste would be flying without a copilot to watch over them.

Lightspace had been discovered by the Kwamiians to cross the vast distances of regular space in weeks rather than lifetimes. The technology which generated the shell that allowed a ship to pierce the barrier between the two universes and thus take a 'shortcut' had eventually been shrunk into an engine that could fit on smaller craft. The smaller engines meant shorter distances, and a flyer like Marinette's could only travel in lightspace for an hour and a half total before needing to be recharged. Still, this allowed carriers to send squads of fighters ahead to engage the Akuma without putting larger ships and their civilian inhabitants at risk.

Satisfied that the newest members of the squad were prepared, Mad Dog ordered the launch and others cleared the bay.

"Black Cat, Ladybug," barked their leader, "just follow the flight plan and we'll see you again in an hour."

"Copy that, Mad Dog," Marinette agreed with a smirk. That should be plenty of time to break the ice between Alya and Nino.

Agreste gave a similarly gleeful agreement and the two shot into space. They cleared the carrier by a few kilometers then began to prepare their engines for the first jump through lightspace.

"Ready," announced Agreste, and Marinette echoed it from her own craft.

"Good luck," came the disembodied voice of their captain, then the comms blanked out as shells grew over their flyers, and the blackness of space paled and brightened as they entered lightspace. Marinette could still see Agreste's flyer through the translucent shell but she couldn't communicate with him during the time they traveled outside of normal space. Her instruments had briefly gone haywire as the shell grew, but as soon as she was fully out of normal space the computers compensated for the strange environment. Unfortunately, the signals couldn't penetrate the shell, so while she could see Black Cat's flyer, she couldn't communicate with him.

Just as she was starting to feel the quiet press on her they neared their exit point and the shell faded. Her instruments briefly scrambled, throwing every alarm, then space darkened and blackened, revealing stars and a distant way station that Marinette remembered from her trial runs with Stone Heart. Stations like that were littered throughout the galaxy. Those positioned along lesser traveled routes were often staffed with only a skeleton crew, and Marinette fully expected everyone on the nearby station to be either too busy to acknowledge the two flyers that just dropped out of light space, or too off-duty to care.

The comm burst with static before Agreste's voice called to her, "Ladybug, this is Black Cat executing safety checks."

"Confirmed," she replied. "This is Ladybug executing same." The safety checks were internal and external, looking for anything that might have gone wrong with their flyers during the exit from lightspace as well as scanning for any threats in their new location.

As the display began to light up in green as each scan came back positive, she tried making small talk. "So what do you think our besties are up to?"

.o8o.

"He's not coming back," Alya stated after the first twenty minutes.

"He'll come back," Nino disagreed with considerably less confidence. "He must be held up…" That should have been a complete sentence, but Nino suddenly remembered a comment from Agreste that explained why he was held up.

"What?" She couldn't see his face in the dark closet, but his voice was expressive enough.

"He, he's got a training run now," Nino replied numbly. "He won't be back aboard for an hour."

"An hour?!" she repeated in explosive disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" She didn't wait for his reply. She began shouting and banging on the door, trying to attract attention for a rescue.

He blindly wrapped his arms around her to quiet her. "Alya, stop! We can't get Agreste in more trouble right now."

She paused her shouting to glare at him in the darkness. "Do you have a portable comm on you so we can contact someone we trust to get us out of here? Because I don't."

His hands dropped to his sides. "No," he admitted.

"So we're supposed to just hang out for another hour in this closet while the Noir rocket jockey lets us stew? Why did he even pick the two of us to begin with?" she wondered angrily. "I mean, flyers play pranks on each other all the time but you and I aren't flyers. I suppose I can understand why he picked you - you're his bestie - but why me? Why not another Noir or someone else on his squad, or another warm body in the area? There are over a thousand people on the carrier yet he specifically lured me here. Why did he pick me?"

Listening to Alya rant, Nino felt an idea take root in his mind and sprout so fast that it gave him a headache. He groaned aloud before he could stop himself.

Recently Agreste had been starting conversations about how Noir and Earthlings showed affection, the different degrees of like and love, games of courtship, and - inexplicably at the time - Alya Cesaire. Agreste was always asking about Earthlings, trying to decipher the nuances of his interactions with them; there was nothing new in him asking questions about Alya or other people he interacted with on the carrier. The questions about courtship and affection, however, struck Nino as a bit suspicious.

Nino's first thoughts when Agreste began these questions focused on whether Agreste was generally curious or if he had a vested interest in how others fell in love. The only logical choice on the Françoise Dupont for Agreste to fall in love with was Elathan, but Nino had spent enough time in the company of the two Noir to determine that the couple had no chemistry. This led him to an uncomfortable idea - that Agreste might have fallen in love with someone else on the carrier. Nino was not one to fuss about the kind of person other people fell in love with; love was blind, after all. But Agreste was a Noir and there were very few free Noir left. Nino didn't consider it his business to worry about Agreste in that fashion, but Plagg might think differently. And if Plagg thought it was Nino's business, what Nino thought didn't matter much. So Nino watched and waited for additional clues, but Agreste didn't drop any.

On the other hand, Agreste had been so innocent-seeming, so insistent, that he had pried all sorts of details from Nino, some of it conflicting, on how Earthlings demonstrate interest. Nino recalled the day he had spent explaining the nuances between "hard to get" and "not interested". More to the point, Nino recalled explaining the rules of various games used to suss out attraction such as Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare, Secret Admirer, and - of particular relevance - an ancient game of two people getting locked in a closet.

"What's wrong?" Alya said in reply to his groan.

"I know why we're here," he said, wanting to bang his head against something.

After a pregnant pause, she asked, "Are you going to tell me?"

The real question was how did Agreste figure it out? The Noir was curious but so much of Earthling interactions eluded him. Nino was sure Alya hadn't noticed yet. With an exaggerated grimace, he realized Marinette must have mentioned something to her squad mate; she and Nino had known each other long enough for her to recognize that Nino liked Alya just as he had noticed the new flyer was less than enamored with her old boyfriend.

Nino sighed deeply. There were so many ways this could blow up in his face. The worst, he decided, was the delayed explosion, holding the unexploded ordnance in his hand and waiting for the hidden counter to reach zero, not knowing who else would be present when it went off.

If he didn't tell Alya now, Nino realized that he would probably never find the words. He had heard enough from Hector Cesaire to know that the doctor would only stay as long as he was needed, that his unique skill set might call him elsewhere on very short notice, and that Hector's entire family would probably go with him. Or at least that is what he first thought, but recently Alya had mentioned some long term plans that implied she at least would remain on the Françoise Dupont.

If Alya wasn't going to stay, there was no point in admitting to his crush. Nino would get over it in time; he was too easygoing not to. But if she was planning on staying behind after her father got reassigned, then Nino needed to speak now or remain forever silent, because there was no way she would let it slide if he confessed later.

"I'm only telling you because I trust you not to get mad at Agreste," he began, believing no such thing but hoping to give her that idea, "but have you ever heard of Seven Minutes in Heaven?"

.o8o.

The second leg of their run was longer than the first. She hasn't noticed how quiet it felt on the earlier run with Stone Heart as copilot to keep her company. She'd have to load a recording before she did this again.

As she exited lightspace, her comm crackled and spat. Agreste was yelling something, his tone urgent although his words were incomprehensible. His flyer zoomed off at an unexpected angle and she tried to keep an eye on him.

"Black Cat," she called, "is everything alright?"

Then she thought she saw something in the black-on-black of space. Then the first external sensor came back red. Then something hit her flyer's tail. Then there was a very small explosion less than 3 meters behind her head.

"Was that an engine?" she yelled. More sensors started lighting up red in response to the explosion but her flyer held together. Her regular engine was still operable but the tail was damaged. She could feel the loss of maneuverability in the controls.

Agreste yelled something back at her then caught himself and tried again. "The space around the station is mined. This must be the work of the Akuma."

More sensors reported back on Marinette's display. Her lightspace engine was currently inoperable in addition to the hit to her tailfin. As she called out the readings to Black Cat, she concluded that her only hope lay at the station on the other side of the minefield. Where she sat now, she could float about, waiting for Agreste to return to the carrier and send a rescue mission, her breathable air slowly dwindling. Surely she would be saved in time, but she's rather save herself. At the station, she stood a chance of repairing the engine she needed to get back to the Françoise Dupont in her lifetime and under her own power.

"It's just like a simulation," she said calmly when her partner balked at the idea of letting her weave through the field of explosives. She thought back to the person who had made her tow a barge through the destabilized asteroid field and wanted to hug them in gratitude.

"Then I'm staying with you," Black Cat said with a note of challenge. "If the Akuma have taken the station, you won't be able to repair your engines and defend yourself alone. And if there is anyone's injured, I may be able to help them."

So they began to creep their way toward the station, too tensely focused on avoiding the mines to think of much else. Their conversation dried up to only the most pertinent of facts. As they got closer, they began to catch hints of damage, but the station remained silent, not once trying to hail them.

At last they were past the minefield and Black Cat did a quick loop to check the integrity of the station. Despite parts of the exterior being blackened or missing, it didn't look uninhabitable although the continued radio silence from the station only increased their anxiety. The station had been attacked within the last day or two; surely the crew was eager for someone to come and help them, even if Ladybug needed help too.

Agreste triggered an automatic landing routine which opened the hangar bay doors and guided them into the station safely. Marinette 's stomach and sense of balance swung off kilter as she felt the gravity of the station latch onto her. No one came to greet or challenge them as they hopped out of their flyers after the internal environment was restored. Marinette glanced at the back of her flyer and winced.

While Marinette began an in-depth diagnostic and repair program on the lightspace engine, Agreste announced their presence on the station-wide communications but no one came out of the woodwork.

Ladybug pulled off a damaged panel and frowned. A coupling between the LSE and a control board looked crispy and fell apart at her touch. She was going nowhere without a replacement part. Without a twinge of guilt, she began to rummage through the few craft that were also parked in the hangar. All of them had been damaged to the point that they were unflyable, but the second one had a suitable replacement coupling which she happily scavenged.

Once the LSE was reconnected with the main computer, she triggered a diagnostic program that would also reset or repair what it could. She just hoped whatever was wrong was also easy to fix. If it was anything complicated she would need -

"Alya!" she said with a groan.

At the mention of the name, Agreste dropped the cable he was holding. "I am in so much trouble," he whispered, his voice carrying clearly through the open space.

"We're both in trouble," Marinette corrected him. Agreste may have shoved their friends in the closet, but Marinette had gone along with the prank. "We are both in trouble. So much trouble."

.o8o.

There was a knock on the door and Nino had to admire Alya's foresight. They were fully clothed although incriminatingly disheveled. For how long had they been stuck here? For how long had they enjoyed being stuck here?

The knock came again, more tentatively. A muffled, "Hello? I know you're in there," followed it. That was a woman's voice. Marinette?

"Just a moment," Alya answered. Nino could feel and hear her moving beside him, running her fingers through her hair, bringing it to order and pulling it back into a bun at her nape. "As we agreed," she spoke low to him, "I get to kill them first, then you can kill whatever is left of those two. And no word about what actually happened in here to our besties, my dad, or anyone else."

Alya had wanted to keep this under wraps and he had not been in a position to negotiate at the time. "Agreed," he said quietly before raising his voice to call out, "You can let us out now."

The lock clicked loudly in the dark and the door cracked open. Light flooded in, temporarily blinding them. They blinked rapidly and realized that their savior was not Marinette after all but another member of the gold squad.

"Where's Dupain-Cheng?" asked Alya. She had a bone to pick with her bestie.

"Ladybug and Black Cat still haven't come back from their run," the flyer said. "Mad Dog sent me to get you out. You're in his closet."

"_His_ closet?" Alya repeated. She felt the need to argue with someone.

"His and… nevermind. Point is, find your own next time."

Alya was clearly about to protest but Nino stepped forward. "Why aren't Black Cat and Ladybug back yet?"

The pilot shrugged. "No idea. Mad Dog's not happy."

Nino frowned. Alya's plans for their besties would have to wait.

.o8o.

Once their flyers were recharging and the diagnostic on Ladybug's LSE was underway, they took an eerie walk to the medical bay, looking for survivors.

Marinette had heard enough about the Akuma to know that they didn't intentionally leave anyone behind; Akuma warfare was built on slaves and financed by ransoms. But the space station was a tangled warren of storage facilities. Someone could have successfully hid during the attack and could now be waiting for a rescue.

The medical bay was empty.

The inhabited part of the ship was relatively small, and the rooms were all conveniently close to each other with the exception of the hangars and engine room. The walk from the medical bay to the command center was short and took them past the kitchen and dining hall. They were all empty.

Marinette sat at the communications desk. "This is the UMSS 782-Delta," she recorded. "The station had been attacked by unknown assailants. The crew is missing. Mines have been placed around the station. Approach with caution."

She then set the message to broadcast in a repeating loop. Ladybug and Black Cat had been gone too long - over an hour past their scheduled return time - and Mad Dog was no doubt sending other flyers to find out what happened to them. Hopefully this warning would prevent anyone else from ending up like her.

"Turn it off," came a voice from the shadows and Marinette's heart nearly leapt out of her throat.

She and Agreste spun around to spot an Earthling male hovering over the threshold, glaring at them angrily. The insignia on his sleeves said that he was a lieutenant in engineering.

"Turn it off," the crewman repeated.

Marinette clutched her fingers to keep them from trembling but she made no move to disable the warning.

"I'm Ladybug and this is Black Cat," she said shakily. The man intimidated her. "We're second lieutenants assigned to the UMS Françoise -"

"Turn it off before they come back!" The man advanced on them quickly and Marinette could now see the pipe he held behind him like a club. The command center was not large, and there was not a lot of room to maneuver if the man attacked.

Agreste physically imposed himself between the crewman and Marinette, his hands up in a placating gesture. "We mean no harm. Members of our squad will be here soon to rescue us. They can rescue you as well, and anyone else who is still here."

The crewman stopped coming closer but he adjusted his grip on the pipe. "What are you?" he asked. The man's skin was not much lighter than Agreste's, but the fur covering the alien confused him.

"My name is Agreste, and I am a free Noir."

The man smiled at that, then laughed humorlessly. "Freedom is an illusion," he said and swung the pipe like a bat.

Agreste didn't exactly dodge. Instead, he threw himself at the crewman which lessened the impact of the blow. It was the man's arm that connected with Agreste 's ribs rather than the metal pipe.

"Go! Run!" Agreste shouted.

Marinette didn't need to be told twice. She tore out of there. Once she reached the hangar, she began to prepare both flyers for immediate launch, disconnecting the cables that had recharged and refueled their craft.

Agreste ran into the hangar as she finished her preparations.

"Where is he?" Ladybug asked, slipping into her seat.

"I don't know. Behind me," Black Cat answered, copying her moves in his own flyer. "I don't think he'll stay down for long. We need to go before he wises up and blows the hangar airlock."

They didn't waste time with excessive preflight checks. Once they had cleared the hangar doors, they still had the minefield to cross before they could safely engage the LSE. Talk was sparse between them at first but Ladybug finally blew out a staticky sigh and asked if her partner understood what had just happened back there. But as much as they could say, they could not satisfactorily explain what had driven the engineer to attack them.

Halfway through the mines, unfortunately, they had a new topic of conversation when a warning starting flashing and beeping across Ladybug's display. A quick glance told her it was nothing critical but it was a few minutes before she could turn her attention away from the mines floating around her to examine the warning fully.

"Cat," she said tersely, "what's the charge on your lightspace engine?"

"Eighty percent. Why?" came the distracted reply. The first two lightspace jumps had drained their engines but Agreste had recharged them while the flyers were at the station.

Marinette's heart sank. Her LSE was charged at barely 60% right now, and she was pretty sure it had been above 70% before they had left the hangar. The engine had been damaged and was leaking charge. Maintaining the shell in lightspace would only drain it faster. If the strain of maintaining the shell drained the battery completely, the shell would crack and Marinette would be thrown violently out off lightspace and into regular space, wherever that happened to be. If she was lucky, she would be able to reach a planet or outpost. If she was really unlucky, she'd be dead before she could regain consciousness. She discussed her problem with Black Cat who began to panic on her behalf.

"Don't worry," she said to both of them. "I'll just monitor it and if the power gets too low, I'll exit lightspace on my own terms."

"You'll still end up stranded," he pointed out.

"That's where you come in," she smiled. "Have Mad Dog send someone else to pick me up and bring me back. Easy! But I hope it doesn't come to that. I'll barely live this down as it is."

He growled at her humor but there was nothing else either one of them could do.

.o8o.

It had been two hours since Ladybug and Black Cat had been expected back.

Mad Dog had sent Stone Heart and Birdman to check the first station but they had returned empty-handed. Mimic and Reflecta were on route to the second station to see if the two second lieutenants could be found.

Gore was pacing in the hangar. Marinette's parents were fretting quietly in Capt. Kim's office. Nino and Alya tried not to look out of place. Colonel Damocles had been informed, but he had been through similar situations often enough to know to conserve worry and elation until they were called for.

A sensor lit up with news of a small object appearing a few kilometers away, like a flyer dropping out of lightspace. The craft was hailed immediately and urgently, but the pilot remained silent for half a minute at least. In that time, the FD was able to read enough from its call sign to determine that this was the flyer Black Cat had used for his training run and that it was undamaged.

Just as Mad Dog took over the comm to yell at the rookie, status burst forth. "This is Black Cat. Ladybug dropped out of lightspace ten minutes ago. You have to go back for her."


	5. Akum's Weapon

**UMS Françoise DuPont**

* * *

EPISODE 5: Akum's Weapon

* * *

_Episode recap: The source of the training exercise failure is revealed._

Flying through lightspace was the only thing that made space travel feasible. People could cover previously unimaginable distances in unbelievably short periods of time. What would have taken generations in regular space lasted only a week or two in lightspace. It was, quite simply, miraculous.

It was also dangerous, like everything else to do with space travel. Leaving lightspace prematurely, even if the pilot intended to leave, was problematic at best. Space was mostly empty, so the odds of dropping into a black hole or sun were reasonably low. But the odds of dropping near _anything were_ low, and that included civilization in any form. Pilots who dropped out of light space tended to be in desperate situations, but their fate was typically only delayed rather than improved by their action.

And even if they had been traveling with another pilot who could record the second that they had dropped, that second in lightspace covered a lot of territory in regular space. Knowing in which sector to send the search party was like knowing in which haystack a needle was hidden but it still left the possibility that the pilot wouldn't be found in time.

Marinette pushed those negative thoughts from her mind. She needed to focus on what she should be doing, and panicking was not on the list.

Sensor readings started coming back mostly green but nothing unexpected. She then ascertained her location. Marinette had studied the charts beforehand and knew that if she needed to exit lightspace, this section has the best chances of survival. She could have flown another five minutes safely in lightspace if she wanted, but she would have ended up in a desolate part of the vacuum. Here, at least, she should be close enough to something that she could attract their attention, or possibly use the last reserves of power in her lightspace battery to put herself more in the way. And if she could get rescued, then surely she could charge up the battery and get back to the Dupont, although not before the carrier launched its own rescue mission.

She had shared these plans with Black Cat, which cost them precious time because the Noir insisted on arguing everything with her. But now that she was stranded, she could take consolation from the fact that he would be able to share her plan with others, so they wouldn't worry too much, so her parents would have some hope.

And she wasn't stranded, not officially. She eyed the display which showed her where she was. She was actually pretty close to being saved! In less than a minute through lightspace she would be within hailing distance from a system controlled by the Kwamiians. Rescue was in sight.

She released a beacon which contained a recording of her intentions in case someone from her squad found it, then set her coordinates for the Aren system. Holding her breath for luck, she entered the last command and watched as the space around her faded to white.

.o8o.

Black Cat tried to answer questions as calmly as possible, but urgency kept overtaking him, causing him to spill his thoughts haphazardly and in a mixture of languages.

The second waystation had been attacked by Akuma. The space around it had been mined. Ladybug's flyer had been struck as soon as she had exited lightspace and had been damaged in the minefield.

Ladybug was not hurt. She was still alive. Her flyer was still in one piece.

They had flown through the minefield to the station to examine Ladybug's flyer and see if repairs were possible. The station had been apparently attacked and abandoned, but after recording a warning for other ships that might approach the mined station, a crew member had come at them with a makeshift weapon.

The captain immediately sent two more flyers in pursuit. "Nightmare, Daisy Chain," he barked, "get Mimic and Reflecta before they walk into the ambush."

As the two pilots jumped into action, Agreste interjected, "But what about Ladybug? She can't get back under her own power."

Mad Dog turned to the other pilots. "If anything goes wrong, I want one of you coming back here immediately to report on it. Otherwise, the four of you have my permission to leapfrog between lightspace and regular space on your way back to the carrier to see if you can find Ladybug. And if you do, just get her coordinates and tell her to stay put. These little flyers aren't designed for this kind of rescue mission."

.o8o.

It took over an hour to brief Damocles and D'Argencourt, mostly because the first twenty minutes were spent waiting for the two senior officers to join the others in the briefing room. From there, Mad Dog gave a dry account of what had happened to Ladybug and Black Cat.

When they began to discuss the waystation, Agreste was called on to provide more detail, describing again and again their altercation with the station's mechanic.

While the senior officers conferred between themselves quietly, Agreste tried to look patient but it was growing more difficult. He wanted to return to the hangar, climb into his flyer, and participate in the search for Ladybug. Before Mad Dog could reprimand him for his nervous energy, the two were belatedly dismissed, the colonel making it clear to Captain Kim that all his flyers were expected back in the next 24 hours or they risked being left behind when the carrier went to investigate UMSS 782-Delta.

The two hurried back to the hangar and Mad Dog's office to learn what had happened to their squad mates. Three were recently returned with their flyers resting and refueling in the bay.

Mad Dog took a quick look around and asked, "Where's Reflecta? The last thing I need is to lose another pilot."

The sensor tech reported that she had just dropped out of lightspace and would be returning to the hangar momentarily. It was just enough time for the others to report their news. No one had been injured in the minefield surrounding the waystation, and none had been unlucky enough to reach the station before they were called back. But also none of them had found Ladybug on their way back to the Dupont. But Reflecta's late return gave them hope. Surely it was finding Ladybug that had delayed her.

Mad Dog began his interrogation during her approach, wanting to hear right away if Ladybug had been found.

"Yes, I've seen her. She's alive," came the reply. A relieved cheer went up when people heard that news.

Reflecta was able to report that she had found Ladybug's beacon very close to a Kwamiian system, with a note attached that the new pilot planned to using the last of her reserves to get close enough to be picked up by a Kwamiian vessel. Reflecta had been able to follow the trail and did meet up with the UMS Spiro, a research vessel, which had picked up Ladybug and her flyer shortly before that. Unfortunately, Ladybug's LSE must have been drained dry because when the Kwamiians found her, she had been unconscious.

Reflecta had come aboard at the invitation of the ship's commander and was able to see Ladybug resting peacefully in the medical bay. Reflecta had stayed until her squad mate had awoken but it was clear that the younger woman was in no way ready to fly home by herself. The UMS Spiro had offered to keep the Lieutenant under observation for a few days while she healed, and to bring her to the way station in five days where she could rejoin the crew of the Dupont.

Mad Dog sighed in satisfaction. He didn't know if the kid was lucky or not, but he - and her family - were overjoyed to hear that she was safe.

.o8o.

Marinette woke up on a cot in a medical bay with a green-skinned alien hovering over her. "Hello Dr. Wayzz," she said softly in greeting.

"Hello Lieutenant," he replied. "Are you feeling better today?"

She nodded and stretched. "Do you mind if I get up and walk around today? I don't think I can stay down."

The alien smiled. "You were such a good patient yesterday that I cannot refuse," he said. "In fact, I have someone who would like to keep you company today, and can certainly give you a tour of the ship. Tell me, have you ever met a Noir?"

"Have I ever - Of course I have," she said, feeling a flush of excitement and familiarity. "There are four on my ship. One of them is a good friend of mine. Did Black Cat come to visit me?" On the one hand, it seemed impossible that Agreste would get permission to come to the Spiro to see her. On the other hand, there were only so many free Noir in the universe; if it wasn't Agreste, who could it be?

"We have a Noir on board the Spiro. She has been my protégée for many years," he said. "I am sure the two of you will get along. I'll send for Tikki as soon as I finish my little checkup."

True to his word, the Kwamiian doctor finished examining Marinette and then called for the other doctor to come to the medical bay while his patient changed into something more appropriate for walking around the ship.

"A small forewarning," Wayzz said shortly before the Noir was due to arrive. "Tikki has been captured by the Akuma. She still has a few marks on her body, scars that won't fade. If you have seen a Noir before, you might notice the difference."

Marinette nodded, trying not to let her imagination run wild with supposition. She would see for herself soon enough how disfigured the alien was. So she was pleasantly surprised when the door opened and a hale black figure entered.

As Wayzz performed introductions, Marinette noticed small bald spots littering Tikki's face and head where the skin had been burned to the point her hair wouldn't grow back. It left the ruff around her neck a bit thin but it was still longer than Elathan's ruff on the Dupont. Tikki's ears were also bobbed, and red prosthetics restored the length that the Akuma had stolen from her.

Wayzz then left them alone and the two set out after a brief discussion. Marinette had no particular place on the ship she wanted to see first, so they decided to let Tikki pick her favorite spot for the start of the tour. That place turned out to be a small cantina with a view of the planet they were currently orbiting.

Marinette smiled when Tikki offered to get sweets for the both of them while they watched land masses and weather systems spin below.

"My friend Agreste, he's a Noir, he loves buttery sweet things," Marinette shared as she admired the pale yellow confection Tikki set before her.

"He has excellent taste," Tikki smiled and the two tucked into their treats.

After wiping away the crumbs, they began to walk through the ship. Tikki pointed out popular areas for the crew to congregate as well as quieter areas where Marinette could go if she wanted solitude. As they walked, they talked on a variety of topics and Marinette realized that Tikki was a friend she would like to keep, even through correspondence.

"How long have you been assigned to the UMS Spiro?" asked Marinette, as they came within sight of the medical bay.

"Seven years?" she tried to recall. "I was… injured when I was rescued. It took a few years of physical therapy for me to recover. Then Wayzz was reassigned here so I came with him."

"So you and Wayzz are... together?" Marinette guessed.

Marinette felt Tikki's deep blue gaze on her, then the older woman burst into laughter. Marinette let the outburst roll over her. When at last it faded, she said meekly, "I guess not."

The remark briefly revived Tikki's laughter. "No, we are not together," she said after a deep breath. "Not like that. As I was recovering, he offered to take me under his guidance, but we've never… I was married, you see, before the Akuma took me."

"What happened to your husband?" Marinette asked.

The silence that followed told her all she needed to hear. Tikki stared down at the black ring she wore and Marinette could see three green stones shining, one of them larger than the others.

"I'm sorry," Marinette said quietly. "I didn't mean to bring up unpleasant memories."

Tikki didn't answer directly but instead wished Marinette a good day and left her standing in the hall.

.o8o.

Hector Cesaire wearily eyed the occupied cots in his medical bay. Luckily no one was fatally injured, but a few of the marines would be off active duty for months.

He was more than grateful that his daughter Alya was not in a risky position, and he felt an awkward twinge of guilt that Tom and Sabine's daughter had been injured at the start of this mess.

"Cesaire!" barked the comm unit. "Report to the hangar!" Another group of wounded soldiers were due to arrive soon and in need of a medic.

Hector performed one last check on his cart before wheeling it into the hall. A med tech sprinted ahead to ready the lift for an emergency override.

The wait when they eventually arrived in the hangar was minimal, just enough time for Hector to see if his daughter was on duty. He had been too busy since the DuPont attempted to take back the UMSS 782-Delta to keep track of his daughter's schedule but he didn't spy her in the hangar before his attention was pulled to the arriving ship.

The wide doors of the ship began to swing open. Even before he could see the marines, Dr. Cesaire could hear them and the sounds of a struggle. A man rolled out of the ship and popped up into an aggressive stance. He looked about and narrowed his focus on Hector, then charged. Hector gaped, momentarily stunned, before the noises from inside the returning ship decanted into recognizable shouts to run. Hector took a step back, then a second one. It became clear that he was not moving fast enough to avoid the deranged man; no one else moving fast enough to intercept him either.

A silver flash met the charging man's head and he collapsed in a heap while a wrench clattered to the floor beside him. Hector just stared for a moment while the rest of the people in the hangar finally began to react at regular speed to the attack.

Marines spilled out of the ship and tackled the inert form of the stranger, tightening loosened bonds and wrapping him in even more restraints. He was unconscious, he had clearly been unconscious, but he began to twitch and make small noises of wakefulness.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Alya strode over to the prisoner and picked up her wrench. "You could get hurt."

"iI/i could get hurt?" he repeated in disbelief, feeling and mobility creeping back into his limbs. "Alya, if your mother hears that you were that close to a madman- Get away from him. We don't know what's wrong with him, whether or how he's contagious… you could end up just like him if you're not careful!"

Hector had intended his words for his daughter, but others heard him, including the soldiers who had fought and captured - and recaptured - the deranged lieutenant from the station. They shuffled nervously. Was this last interaction the point at which they would descend into madness? Were they already infected?

"Cesaire!" The name rang out through the hangar, snapping father and daughter to attention.

Lieutenant Colonel D'Argencourt marched straight for the doctor, his face a thundercloud. "Am I to understand that you have discovered something about the man we've just brought onboard or are you needlessly inciting a panic out of a misplaced parental concern?"

The dressing down brought Hector to his senses. He apologized loud enough to be heard by anyone who had heard his last outburst.

"Thank you for clarifying, Dr. Cesaire," D'Argencourt said. "And now I think you had best take this man to the med-bay and figure out what is wrong with him. I expect a preliminary report from you at the end of this shift."

Hector could only agree.

.o8o.

The Spiro hailed the DuPont and initiated the series of actions that would return Lieutenant Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Unfortunately, the med-bay was overwhelmed with all the recent injuries to the point where even the remote infirmaries could not accommodate her.

In fact, Dr. Hector Cesaire of the DuPont asked to consult with the chief medical officer of the Spiro about the interesting case that had come aboard.

The engineer was not responding to any treatment. Between the adrenaline and triiodinethroxine flooding his system, sedatives no longer had any lasting effect on him. He was in a constant and aggressive fight-or-flight response, fighting against his restraints, ignoring all attempts to reason with him, and continuing to show increasingly unstable heart rate and brain waves. His liver and kidneys, his thyroid and endocrine glands were all in a state of continually high activity. Hector was worried that the man would burn himself out, exhaust himself to death, before they could get his condition under control.

Wayzz and Tikki took in the description of symptoms and shared a look of foreboding. When they actually saw a live video feed of the patient, it felt like their fears had come true.

"It is the Volpin Madness all over again," Tikki uttered.

Hector couldn't believe it. "But that only affects Volpin," he reasoned.

"You can bet the Akuma have sought a way either to mutate the virus for Earthlings or to make a new virus that affects Earthlings in the same way," Wayzz countered. "Either way, I fear for your patient, and anyone who may have come into contact with him. With Volpin, once the person begins to show symptoms, it's already too late to cure them."

Further discussion battered the Kwamiian's convictions, however, as Tikki pointed out that a new or mutated virus could have new rules for transmission. It might require physical contact to spread - either skin-to-skin or via bodily fluids like sweat and spit - or it might be airborne and traveling through the DuPont's ventilation ducts at that very moment.

That meant that Hector needed to consider everyone who had come into contact with the engineer or had been to the station as a potential patient and threat. And Lieutenant Dupain-Cheng, as the first Earthling member of the crew to be exposed to the virus, would possibly be the next to fall victim to it, unless they could come up with a cure in time.

Marinette's transfer back to the DuPont was necessarily rescinded. The Welcome Home party that her parents and friends had been planning for her had to be postponed indefinitely. Instead, she had a ship-to-ship video chat with her parents who stressed how many people were missing her and waiting for her return in between pleas that she would give up flying for something less dangerous. Marinette smiled at her parents' image but made no promises. Sure, she had unfortunate luck from time to time, but she wouldn't trade her career for anything, not even the peace-of-mind of those that loved her most.

By the time that the call ended, Wayzz was back on the Spiro, ready to examine his cheerful patient in greater detail than before. Previous exams had not considered this new virus so new blood draws and scans were ordered to see if there was anything unusual, no matter how harmless it initially appeared.

Additional investigation of the UMSS 782-Delta helped to pinpoint when the station was attacked and, when compared with when Ladybug and Black Cat had waltzed into the minefield, gave everyone an upper bound for how long it took to display symptoms. The infected engineer died during the next shift despite the temporary statis they had attempted to put him in, his body seizing and shaking uncontrollably, bruising his skin against the restraints. It was tragic or, rather, it would be tragic if they could not learn from this case in time to save others.

Tikki stayed behind on the DuPont. Her medical skill could have been put to much use tending the wounded but Hector and Wayzz decided the best use of her abilities lay in autopsying the dead engineer and trying to discern as much as possible - a cure if it could be found, information on transmission or immunity if it could not.

It was nerve wracking to think of how many Earthlings could end up dead if a cure could not be found. Most of the crew and civilians on board were from Earth and if they did indeed have an outbreak on their hands, the Spiro might need to abandon the DuPont completely, a loss of all hands, if the infection spread too quickly to contain.

With all that pressure, Tikki did not leave the medical bay for anything. Food was brought to her and sleep was stolen in two-hour increments on a cot. Wayzz reported that he found no sign of the virus on Marinette, for which Tikki was grateful, but a few marines who had been in direct physical contact with the engineer while trying to capture and subdue him on the space station had something odd turn up on a cerebral scan. They were moved into a more secure space and the medical staff began to focus on that oddity in further scans.

The oddity began to lead them to a cause, which Tikki knew would lead to the solution. She directed others on the medical staff to treat the infected pair based on the symptoms, attempting to disable the thyroid and adrenal glands before the virus made them go haywire. That would buy more time, saving them from more drastic and dangerous measures such as cryofreeze.

While the two were relatively stable, she was able to isolate a sample of the virus, a solid piece of good news. Had she been less giddy, she would have taken a nap in celebration. She settled for sending word to Wayzz, who sent back low-key congratulations and notice that Marinette remained healthy.

Then a scan picked up the virus in a third crewman whose spouse had reported his recent erratic behavior. The new patient's symptoms were much more difficult to bring under control than the first two, and Hector scrambled to figure out if and when the man had been in direct contact with Patient Zero, or if the virus has been transmitted in another way.

It was Tikki's decision to give the crewman the first dose of the antivirus she had synthesized. It had limited effect - slowing the virus but not strong enough to kill it. Encouraged, she gave slightly larger doses to the two marines lying in a state of lethargy in the bay.

Then signs of the virus were found in the infected crewman's spouse as well as a fifth person.

Tikki sent a request to the Spiro for Wayzz to begin synthesizing the antivirus there too. At the rate it was spreading on the DuPont, they couldn't produce enough by themselves to keep from being overwhelmed.

It arrived at the end of the next shift, delivered by a special courier - Lt. Dupain-Cheng.

.o8o.

Marinette had tried to be a good patient but it was getting more difficult to stay in the medical bay under constant surveillance in the quarantine lab. She had gotten frustrated with asking Wayzz if she might take a walk around the Spiro, offering to go with a chaperone who could drag her back to the medical bay at the first sign of trouble, only to be repeatedly refused. She had submitted obediently to numerous scans and one painful injection when the Spiro had generated its first batch of antivirus, but there were only so many shifts of forced idleness she could tolerate before she went stir crazy.

So when Wayzz offered her more than just a walk about the ship but rather a chance to get back in her family and return to the Françoise DuPont, she jumped at it.

It felt like it had been forever since she had sat in her cockpit, and the recent inactivity left her more easily fatigued, but it was a short jaunt from the Spiro to the DuPont. The most exhausting part was probably the greetings she received from the members of the red squad who, despite the fact that Marinette was basically evicted from their group, were truly pleased to see her after the events of the last two weeks.

Eventually Queen Bee realized her errand and ordered Marinette to the medical bay, smirking at the expected look on Mad Dog's face when he found out that Ladybug was back and the red squad had seen her first.

.o8o.

As pleased as Tikki and Alya's dad were to see her in the medical bay, they were more pleased to see the supplies from Wayzz. With more and more people being diagnosed with the virus, the immediate pressures of putting those new antivirals to use gave them no time for idle chatter so Marinette left after extracting a promise from Tikki to get together, "when this mess is under control."

Marinette then went in search of her parents and found them in their family quarters. If she thought that the welcome she had received from the red squad was too much, it was nothing compared to the hugs and kisses she got from her parents who were overjoyed to be reunited with their daughter after so long and unplanned a separation. They couldn't get over their happiness at having her back, hugging her and feeding her, until she checked the time so she could report to Mad Dog at the start of the next shift.

They had a small argument then about whether Marinette had any duty to return. Surely she was still recovering from dropping out of light space. She explained that the chief medical officer from the UMS Spiro had cleared her to fly solo back to the DuPont and resume light duties.

"That includes reporting to my squad leader," she stressed. "Otherwise I need to go back to the Spiro where Wayzz can keep an eye on me. But I didn't join the UM to sit timidly on the sidelines while others face all the risks. You know that," she added gently. Her parents loved her and wanted her to be safe, and she regretted making them worry, but they didn't teach her to shirk her responsibilities, and she wasn't about to start that bad habit now.

As luck would have it, the door chimed to announce a visitor. Marinette answered the door to end the conversation and discovered Alya standing there.

"Alya!" she exclaimed, pulling her bestie into the quarters and giving her a big hug. "I'm so happy to see you!" She really had missed her friend.

"That's the first thing you say?" asked Alya with arms wrapped around her neck. "Not, 'I'm sorry?'"

Marinette quirked her brow in confusion and pulled away far enough to see her friend's face. "I'm sor-" she began slowly. Then a light clicked on in her eyes and she remembered what she needed to be sorry about.

Before Marinette could truly apologize, Alya spoke up.

"You forgot, didn't you?" She sounded none too happy. "You and Black Cat trapped Nino and me in that closet, and then you went off and do you have any idea how long we were stuck in there?" She was not happy at all.

"I'm sorry!" Marinette said and meant it. Putting Alya and Nino together had been a stupid scheme and she was sorry for her role in it. And from the sound of it, Marinette had been wrong about the two forming a couple. If being locked in a closet together for hours hadn't brought them together, nothing would at this point.

"You're lucky I like you," Alya grumbled, pulling her friend back into a hug. "I'll forgive you but you've got to promise not to do anything like that again."

Marinette was more than eager to swear, and Alya had already forgiven her, so the two went to give one last greeting to Marinette's parents before finding a quiet place to catch up.

Marinette's parents used the opportunity to try to get Alya on their side and discourage their daughter from reporting for duty. Alya, however, had thoughts more in line with her friend. She told them the story of how she had rescued her father from the crazed engineer from the station and pointed out that as long as they were living on the UMS Françoise DuPont, they were in danger of some sort. It was best to be prepared to meet trouble head-on rather than to cower from it. Or so Alya thought.

Marinette tried not to smile too brightly. Alya's words were exactly what her parents needed to hear. Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng still didn't want their daughter throwing herself into danger but they were slowly realizing that safety was an illusion on a carrier like the DuPont. Leaving the older two with that sobering thought, the younger two made their getaway.

Mad Dog and the rest of the gold squad were overjoyed to have Ladybug rejoin them although Mad Dog put her on the simulator for nearly two months and gave her a thorough risk assessment before he let her participate in any sorties, not that the squad did much other than little patrols to gather up the rest of the mines that surrounded the station.

A large welcome home party had to be scrapped due to an ongoing curfew on large gatherings, but she got to reconnect with people over quiet meals, which was just as good as one big bash.


	6. Any Other Name

**UMS Françoise DuPont**

* * *

EPISODE 6: By Any Other Name

* * *

_Episode recap: The crew discovers some connections between themselves._

Like most things, gossip traveled fastest in a vacuum. When the Noir delegation first arrived on the carrier, rumors sprouted and spread faster than they could be confirmed or refuted. Time and proximity did much to dispel the fiction and enforce the fact, but skirted flirtatiously with the hearsay. By the time the engineer from the space station was captured and brought aboard, the Noir were no longer a sensation.

While the sudden arrival of another Noir might have been enough to fill feeds with speculation during a normal stretch of boredom, people were too busy talking about Akum's attack on the space station and the mysterious survivor. Tikki was just another Noir, and any interest in her would only be granted when she did something actually interesting.

She had quickly settled into the medical bay, becoming friends with the medical staff with the same openness she had shown Lt. Dupain-Cheng on the Spiro. But, despite being worthy of gossip and rumor, news of Tikki didn't spread. The medical staff who worked with her didn't have free time to chat about their colleagues with their loved ones; they barely had time to check in with their families once the quarantine was enforced. The patients obviously weren't sharing the stories about the Noir with the visitors they were not allowed to have. Tikki herself didn't take time to wander the ship in search of companionship because she was too busy looking for a cure to the virus that was threatening the entire crew. While she was not truly a secret, she was still a very little known fact.

It was thanks to Marinette Dupain-Cheng that word eventually spread, mentioning the Noir in passing to friends when she met with them. She later insisted that Tikki join her for a quick meal. When that was repeatedly postponed due to Tikki's unrelenting schedule, Marinette compromised with an appeal to Tikki's sweet tooth.

Marinette also offered to bring those homemade treats to the cantina closest to the medical bay so that her friend would not have to travel far to get away. The last concession had been the time: it was in the middle of Marinette's duty shift that she had to slip away from the simulator with Agreste in tow.

Black Cat had professed a curiosity to meet the other Noir, and Marinette had already mentioned Agreste to Tikki numerous times in their conversations on the Spiro. All in all, it seemed like a perfectly harmless opportunity to introduce the two to each other.

Marinette greeted Tikki first, then presented Agreste. Then she watched as the Noir greeted each other. It made her smile to see them quickly outgrow any awkwardness as they asked about each other, aided by the baked goods that Marinette had set on the table. In no time at all, Agreste invited Tikki to come and meet the rest if the Noir delegation.

"How many other Noir are on board?" asked Tikki. She was sure Marinette had mentioned that detail during their time aboard the Spiro, but right now Tikki's brain was too full of viruses and anti-viruses to clearly recall.

"Just three more," said Agreste, as if four Noir permanently assigned to the UMS Françoise Dupont was not a major coup for Ambassador Bourgeois. "There's Gore, Plagg -"

Marinette was sitting with them both and felt the ripple of stillness start with Tikki and spread immediately to Agreste. It was the same stillness her partner occasionally exhibited when she asked what she later realized was a too personal question. Nino had explained that the stillness was usually the Noir equivalent of a blush since Noir - being so dark and covered in black hair - didn't really blush like Earthlings did. But Nino mentioned that there was another reason why a Noir would suddenly freeze up like this: fear.

Marinette swallowed her current mouthful and then asked, "What? What just happened?"

Tikki spoke, her words in her native tongue and not really meant for the Earthling beside her. Agreste answered in the same accent although the word he uttered - "Plagg" - was recognizable by Marinette.

The Noir doctor stood abruptly, making an announcement that the Earthling couldn't understand. Agreste likewise leapt from his seat then turned his green eyes on Marinette in expectation.

"What's going on?" she asked again. Something had just happened right in front of her eyes but she couldn't understand it. Was Tikki embarrassed or afraid of the Noir leader? Was she standing up so that she could run away? What should Marinette do?

"Tikki needs to see Plagg," Agreste explained succinctly.

"Right now?" asked Marinette as she stood and got ready to trail after them. She estimated that they had plenty of time for this initial introduction between Agreste and Tikki if they sat at the cantina and talked, but she wasn't sure how long it would take to find the elder Noir, or conclude their business with him once they started if Tikki stayed tight-lipped and immobile.

"Yes, now," Tikki answered, once again using the standard Kwamiian language that everyone in the UM was expected to understand. "I need to see him."

Marinette turned to Agreste. "Do you know where he is right now?" Marinette could hardly keep track of her parents' schedule, and she imagined Agreste had similar difficulty with the rest if the Noir delegation.

"He should be in our quarters," came the uncertain reply. "If he's gone, at least Gore will know where to find him."

The three of them left the cantina for the nearest elevator. Agreste programmed their destination and they felt the faint sensation of movement.

"Tikki, how do you know Plagg?" Marinette asked quietly. She tried to sound casual and soothing as Tikki looked nervous.

"I knew _a_ Plagg," she answered evasively. "He may not be the same, although the universe can only hold so many. He was one of a kind," she added, wringing her hands as her unease grew.

Agreste and Marinette shared a look. Neither understood what was behind her reaction.

"Are you sure you want to see him right now?" Marinette checked. "Maybe it would better to get on his calendar when you're not so ..." She wasn't quite sure how to express Tikki's current mood.

The doctor's blue eyes gave her a very ungenerous look. "I have been on this carrier for weeks and I had no idea he was also here, but now that I know, I must act. I can't wait. I won't be able to focus until I see him and know for certain if he is _my_ Plagg or not."

Something in her tone gave Marinette a strong hint about Tikki's relationship with Plagg.

They soon arrived at the deck on which the Noir delegation was quartered. As they approached the door, Tikki had another attack of nerves. She squeezed Marinette's hand.

"Do you think he already knows I'm here?" she asked breathlessly. "Do you think he has heard I am on board and he hasn't said anything because he's not _my_ Plagg?" Her hold tightened suddenly and the Earthling winced. "What if he _is_ my Plagg and he doesn't want to see me? Eleven years is a long time. What if -"

Agreste laid a comforting hand on her arm and said something quiet and soothing to her. She relaxed her death grip on Marinette and took a few deep breaths, her ears twitching to help her relax. With one final nod, she signaled Agreste to open the door.

He did so and quickly ushered them inside them left them waiting while he went to find Plagg in one of the private rooms. Marinette tried to take in her surroundings - Nino was the only Earthling she had heard of to be invited into these quarters - but Tikki consumed all of her attention with her nervous fidgeting.

Marinette racked her brain for something to say but no words came to her, or the random words that did felt unfit for the potentially momentous occasion. She settled for squeezing her friend's hand reassuringly and standing with her in silence as the seconds sped past.

At last they could hear the sounds of movement and voices, an older man arguing and Agreste placating, Tikki's breaths coming out in shallow, rapid pants. Then they came into view and Plagg caught sight of their guests. His gait faltered and he reached out his arms to steady himself, one hand touching the wall and the other clutching his heart. Beside her, Marinette heard Tikki gasp and felt her tremble, but her eyes were too riveted to the Noir leader's reaction to spare her friend a sidelong glance until she registered the concern on Plagg's face. By then, Tikki's eyes were rolling back in her head and she was beginning to lean into Marinette as she fainted from the shock. The sight of a ghost - or perhaps a resurrected man - proved too much for her after the steady grind of working in the medical bay for so long. Marinette barely caught her in time and was quickly relieved of her burden by Plagg.

.o8o.

Plagg had been actively involved in the Noir resistance since he had been a child. This meant that he and those close to him were targeted by the Akuma. The threat of death or capture sat on his shoulder like an imp, warning him and goading him by turns.

Growing up in in the middle of a genocide led to some unusual experiences. His grandfather had been a gluttonous sloth, but Plagg would often go hungry as he was constantly on the move, striking blows against the Akuma and avoiding detection.

He was on the whole successful as a thorn in the side of Akum, but he was young, not immortal. He pushed his luck to the breaking point too many times for it not to snap. He woke up one day in a medical bay with no memory of how he had been injured and no idea of how long he had been dozing. All he knew was that his last mission must have been a failure.

His doctor was a young woman with a charming bedside manner who coaxed him back to health and humor. Their courtship was accelerated and before he had recovered enough to walk unaided, he asked her to marry him. Their wartime wedding was documented after the fact. He continued to participate in the resistance, slowly taking on more leadership. She joined him as much as her talents permitted, focusing on medicine and tending to Noir injured in Akuma attacks. They were as much of a power couple as circumstances allowed, considering they were under constant threat.

The last time Plagg saw his wife, he had embraced her, holding her close, pressing his neck to hers, feeling the hair of her collar tease his own as she hummed contentedly. It was a farewell much like all the other times he had left for various missions. Fate gave him no warning then of what was soon to come.

It was a little unnerving that he had made it high enough in the ranks of the resistance that he might be important enough for Akum to specifically target those close to him, but it came with the unwieldy comfort that the Akuma might settle for more than his immediate death should he be captured.

Those were his parting words to his wife: "Don't worry about me. I know too much for them to kill me."

.o8o.

Plagg stared at the woman collapsed in his arms. He had never expected to see her again; she was dead!

He glared at the Earthling, certain that she was to blame somehow, either for keeping his wife from him all these years or for causing her to faint into his arms when they were finally reunited.

Before he could utter any accusations, however, Agreste positioned himself in front of the alien. "Let's set Tikki on the couch before we revive her," the younger Noir suggested.

Plagg felt his ire slip and thrash about like a living thing. "What did you call her?" he asked, a dangerous tone in his voice. Agreste shouldn't even associate that word with her. His wife's public name was Kitireth. She had a private name that he alone called her - 'Tikki,' which meant _heart_ for she was indeed his heart.

"She goes by Tikki," Marinette said, mindful of what Nino had mentioned about Noir and their hidden names. "That's the name she gave to the Kwamiians when they rescued her. Everyone on the UMS Spiro calls her that. That's how she introduced herself to me, that's how she introduced herself to Agreste."

Plagg nearly growled but Agreste had already gone and returned with a first aid kit. He cracked it open and pulled out a small packet, breaking the seal under Tikki's nose. Marinette's throat burned in response to the strong smell as her friend's eyes fluttered and claimed Plagg's attention.

.o8o.

A day after Plagg had left on his mission, Akum fliers dropped out of lightspace to harass their ship. The defense left behind had been only a token, more for security theater than actual protection as the Noir resistance didn't believe that the Akuma knew where to find this craft.

Fearing what she might be forced to divulge if Akum were to learn of her relationship to a known leader of the resistance, Kitireth abandoned her identity as soon as she was captured, choosing the name Tikki so that her husband might recognize her private name on the list of hostages available for ransom.

The prisoners were corralled in a large, open area where they could be more easily monitored. A pregnant woman was removed from the crowd after a few days. The Akuma made a show of giving her additional food and care at the expense of the others. Then the Akuma announced that they would be equally lenient on anyone else who had information worth sharing. Two injured people took them up on the offer. Tikki had already tried to treat them, but her medical skill could only achieve so much without medicines and tools. Tikki knew the volunteer informants only vaguely and could barely guess at the information they might offer in exchange for needed medical treatment. Akum seemed pleased with the exchange, eventually declaring that there would be no other offers and that the uncooperative spies they had already caught had been executed.

Tikki felt a pit drop in her stomach when she heard that, but it was made worse when their captors then listed the name of the dead. At the first name, an older man had wailed in grief. Guards seized him and separated him from the remaining prisoners. A chill spread through the crowd and everyone tried to hear the rest of the names with detachment but anyone who betrayed themselves at hearing of the death of a loved one was soon carried off, not to be seen again.

Tikki bit her tongue when Plagg's name was called out and pressed her fingernails into her palms but no one noticed her distress, no one grabbed her. Her grief and her identity remained secret.

In the end, her ruse worked too well. She was enslaved and treated cruelly, with scars that still showed on her face and arms. There was no thought of ransom for one deemed unwanted, ignorant, and disconnected. Indeed, even if she was listed on the roster, who would recognize a Tikki now that Plagg was dead? A few years past and then, by some miracle, the hideout where she and a number of other Noir were kept was discovered by the Kwamiians. She was rescued!

Her saviors asked for her name and without thinking she gave it as Tikki. It had been too long, she had endured too much to think of herself as Kitireth again. Also, being called Tikki kept Plagg alive in her memories.

The Kwamiians took care of her, healed her to the best of their abilities, and eventually let her join them in their efforts. Her medical training was completely repeated until the direction of Wayzz, her mentor, and she was eventually assigned along with him to the UMS Spiro.

She had never looked for Plagg when she was finally freed. His death had seemed too certain to question. And even if she had, free Noir didn't lend themselves to being tracked. It was a natural reaction to being hunted so thoroughly by the Akuma. She might've spent the rest of her life looking for some sign of him and never find even a confirmation of his death.

.o8o.

"But I lived," said Plagg, holding her hand.

"Yes, I see that now," said Tikki, "but at the time, I believed them."

"Never trust an Akuma," he told her.

"But they knew your name, and mine as well: 'Plagg ar-Kitireth.' It was a time of hopelessness. I had been held as a prisoner for months by then, I was not thinking clearly. There were too many lies for me to spot them all," she philosophized.

Agreste shifted, making just enough noise so that the two principals remembered they had witnesses.

Marinette had listened with rapt attention to Tikki's story, but now she felt like she was intruding on a private moment. "Um, perhaps Agreste and I should go back to our hangar before we're missed," she said. They had lost track of time but there wouldn't be trouble if the flyers didn't get caught.

Tikki likewise needed to be in the medical bay, but if any of them had an excuse for tardiness, it was the Noir doctor. However, Marinette wasn't sure if they should leave Tikki with Plagg or not. They had been married, yes, but war had separated them for over a decade. They were strangers now, however much they might remember younger versions of each other. No one should expect them to pick up exactly as they had left off; the gap was too wide; there was too much that needed to be rebuilt. And this wouldn't happen instantaneously either, nor should either of them expect it to.

"Perhaps I should go to," Tikki began.

"No," said Plagg. "I am not letting you out of my sight."

Tikki smiled slightly and her ears twitched in humor. "Not even to do my duty? You never would have allowed me to say such a thing."

He did not look pleased. "I think I can be allowed to delay you a moment longer while we both recover from the shock of seeing each other again." He shot Agreste a look which Marinette could easily interpret: they were dismissed. Tikki would soon follow, but he wanted a moment of privacy. That seemed easy enough to grant. Perhaps a few private words now, followed by time to steep in this knowledge and additional meetings later, were the right prescription.

The two pilots showed themselves out.

.o8o.

If Plagg and Kitireth's courtship had been accelerated by war, then Plagg and Tikki's courtship progressed in lightspace. Whenever opportunity allowed, they were together. Tikki still pursued a more effective cure to Akum's latest weapon, but her breaks were no longer spent hovering about the medical bay. Plagg would visit her in the lab or, more rarely at first, she would disappear into the Noir quarters for a half-hour at a time.

The doctors and other medical staff were soon made aware of Plagg and Tikki's history, and the story of their separation and reunion began to spread about the carrier. Ambassador Bourgeois even approached them to ask if their story could be recorded and shared as an inspiration to other ships in the UM. Here Tikki and Plagg refused. Too many details could aid the enemy and besides, Noir were private in grief and in joy. It was nobody's business what happened years ago or even yesterday.

They adjusted their behavior to keep their dates away from curious eyes, spending most of their free time in the Noir quarters although Plagg could occasionally be found in a medical lab when Tikki lost track of time in the latest experiment.

All of this meant that Marinette got most of her news about Tikki from an admittedly biased Agreste, who was able to explain some of the ceremony of Noir courtship and help Marinette understand more than if she just had to rely on her own uninformed observations. It satisfied her craving for a happily-ever-after that had apparently been foiled when Alya and Nino had not turned their time locked together in a closet into a relationship.

"So in between the gifts and secret names and introductions to family, I'd say this is a fine romance," Marinette smiled. "We didn't actively conspire to bring them together like we did with Alya and Nino, but I'll record it as a victory. And considering how horribly the Alya-Nino-Closet thing worked out, I suppose it's for the best." Alya had still not completely forgiven her bestie and brought it up whenever she needed to embarrass or chastise her friend.

"We don't know about the secret names," Agreste reminded her. "And besides, secret names are not solely romantic. You can give them to anyone you hold dear, like parents and children, or siblings and friends. I wouldn't be surprised if Tikki gave one to the chief medical officer on the Spiro since they are so close."

Marinette blinked as she absorbed that tidbit. "You can have a secret name even if you aren't a Noir?" It didn't sound right so she wanted to check.

Agreste shrugged his ears. "I don't see why not," he said thoughtfully. "Although it would be weird if neither of the people involved was a Noir."

"So do you have a secret name?" she asked. Marinette had always thought Agreste was young. Despite being as tall as an adult Earthing male, despite being a lieutenant in the Marines, his collar was short which she knew was a sign of youth. He didn't talk much of life before arriving on the UMS Françoise Dupont and it was hard to imagine what might have happened. If he had any brothers or sisters, he had never mentioned them or any best friends or lovers either, although perhaps "lovers" was a bit ambitious of a term.

His ears twitched and he raised an eyebrow. "Of course I do. My mother gave me a secret name, but she's gone now." That was another thing that was hard to imagine. His mother was merely 'gone.' Perhaps she was just being held like Tikki had been, waiting to be rescued, or perhaps she was dead. Either way, the odds of Agreste seeing his mother again was astronomically low.

"What about your father? Did he give you a secret name, or does he just use the same name as your mother?" It was an implied one-to-one relationship, but Marinette could easily imagine two parents choosing the same name for their child.

"He and I aren't close," Agreste said. "He's very formal and I grew up away from him. It wouldn't make sense for us to share that connection."

"What about Gore?" she guessed. "He's like your mentor."

Agreste shrugged in defeat. "He thinks they are bad luck. Anyone who has ever received a secret name from him is dead now."

Marinette could feel his mood sinking as her questions brought up painful memories. She had to get him thinking of something cheerful.

"Since there's no rule against secret names with Earthlings, do you have one for Nino?"

Agreste had spent less and less time with the translator as his language skills improved, but the two were still close, in spite of the closet debacle. Nino was a forgiving person, unlike Alya. Nino was also not the sort of person to refuse the offer if Agreste asked.

Agreste started to say no, but he stopped himself. She watched him think over the idea.

"What if..." he began tentatively. "What if you and I had secret names?"

Marinette's eyes widened but some instinct for preservation revved up and kept her mouth from saying anything stupid immediately. She swallowed and then was able to squeak, "You and me?"

"Yes, think about it," he reasoned slowly as if he too was realizing this for the first time. "You and I are together practically every day, for hours and hours. Look at us now: taking our break together. We just spent the last four hours practically side by side, yet rather than spending time with other people, here we sit. We work together, eat together, socialize together. You mentioned me sharing names with Nino but the last three times I saw him, I was with you. Face it, Ladybug, you're my bestie. And while you may spend more time with Alya Cesaire than I do with Nino, you still spend more time with me than you do with her; I'm your bestie too."

Well, when he phrased it like that, she couldn't argue coherently, but it did take her a moment or two to shut her gaping mouth.

"We can't tell Alya," she said at last. Marinette wasn't sure how the mechanic would take the demotion but could easily imagine a few negative scenarios.

"She won't hear it from me," Agreste promised with a grin. "Does that mean you'll do it, secret names?"

"Well, what exactly would I do?" she hedged.

"We give each other a name, in private," he said, waving his hands for additional explanation. "I don't get to choose your name for me, and vice versa."

"What if you don't like what I pick?" The thought of not bouncing ideas off of him was worrying. And if she couldn't brainstorm with Agreste, she didn't suppose she could brainstorm with anyone, because then someone else would know what she picked.

"If it comes from you then I'll like it."

That didn't assuage her concern. "Let me think about it," she demurred. "I'm not ready to give you a name right now."

That suited Agreste just fine. Her thoughtfulness meant worlds to him.

.o8o.

Coming up with a name for Agreste was worse than coming up with her own flyer name, Marinette decided. For her flyer name, she had at least had some boundaries, but there was a whole universe of options for Agreste. And she couldn't involve anyone else in the process for fear that they would figure out what she was doing and thus learn Agreste's name.

It didn't help matters when she asked him if people ever changed their secret names. He grudgingly admitted that yes, it could happen but didn't provide any context for why. Based on how awkward he was while answering, Marinette didn't press for more information. It was probably best not to know.

It was also difficult to find the time to think about it. Marinette realized that she had very little time truly alone when she could mutter to herself without being overheard. Even when she was in the simulator or her flyer, there was someone listening in.

Thankfully, lightspace was a safe, disconnected place. When Mad Dog sent her on a solo mission to drop off communiques and pick up some more medical supplies at a distant station, she had relished the chance to be alone with her thoughts. The recordings she had packed to occupy her during the long silence went unused. She thought only of Agreste and what secret name she could give him.

After a few hops and a dull hour spent recharging halfway through, she arrived at UMSS 510-Gamma with no clear idea of what to call her partner. The station, she was pleased to find, had not been attacked by the Akuma, its surrounding airspace had not been mined, and its crew had no violent urge to harm her.

On the contrary, Commander Tali was personable and gentle, greeting her in the hangar bay with an animal of some kind perched on his shoulder. He offered her a meal and gossip while her ship was charging for her return.

The mess hall was crowded - the only member of the crew not in attendance was in the control room. Marinette found herself telling of her adventure on the UMSS 782-Delta to a nervously attentive audience.

"And how are we supposed to protect ourselves from the Akuma?" asked the most vocal crew member. "How are we supposed to fight against them?"

"Ah, but that is why Dr. Novich gave everyone a shot recently," said the commander. "To protect us Earthlings against Akum's latest weapon."

The doctor started to voice her ascent when she was interrupted.

"What does it matter if Doc Novich has inoculated us if the Akuma blow us to bits before they get onboard?" the engineer voiced his concerns.

Marinette didn't know what to say, but the animal perched on the commander's shoulder gave a tiny, scratchy roar of disagreement. Marinette gaped at it. The little creature had been cute before, but hearing it's voice made it absolutely adorable. It entirely broke any tension that had been building

"Looks like Cadet Minou thinks you need to calm down," said Commander Tali.

"Cadet Minou?" Marinette repeated.

"Aye," answered the commander. "Although he's more of a mascot than a cadet." Tali let her pet the animal's soft dark fur until Minou purred in contentment.

The disgruntled engineer attempted to draw conversation back to his concerns, but the long and the short of it was that the station had finite defenses, and if the Akuma wanted to destroy it, the odds were not good that anyone would survive. But calling attention to it or dwelling on it did nothing for morale, so the commander changed the subject but focusing on his pet.

The creature left such an impression on Marinette that she travelled one entire leg of her return trip without thinking about Agreste. And when she remembered him, she had to gasp at the idea that sprung into her head.

She needed to speak with Black Cat.

.o8o.

"I have something to say to you, _Minou_," she said, weighting the word with care.

He didn't get it. "What's a minou?"

"It's you!" she nearly scolded him. "My Minou. My very good friend Minou."

"Minou?" he repeated as realization dawned. He rolled the word around on his tongue then looked at her curiously. "I don't know what that means."

"Uh," she stammered. It was one thing to think of him as a kitten, but it was another thing to call him a kitten to his face. Yet she had just done so. Luckily, he didn't understand the word and, as the name was secret, he had no reason to ask Nino Lahiffe for a more precise translation. "Well, it means 'cat' in my original Earthling language. And since I call you 'Cat' all the time, it seemed like a good fit."

Agreste smiled. "Minou," he said one more time before declaring, "I like it. And would you like to know the name I have picked for you?"

"For me?" she squeaked. In all her concern, she had forgotten that secret names were usually an even exchange. "Yes, please."

He smiled. "I'm going to call you 'Lucky.'"

"What?" She was incredulous. "But I'm not lucky. I'm the most unlucky person you know. I nearly flunked out of our first class together. I got decompression sickness during a training exercise. I got thrown out of one flight squad and nearly didn't get picked up for another. I came out of lightspace into the middle of a minefield. I was attacked by a rabid Earthling on a remote station. I've been forcibly ejected from lightspace. I woke up on a strange ship, lightyears away. How can you call me lucky?"

"That's not how I see it," he said. "You are more lucky that you realize. And besides, you are not allowed to pick your own name."

She glared at him before rolling of her eyes.

"Lucky it is!" he declared.


	7. Cure for Excess

**UMS Françoise DuPont**

Thanks to everyone who has been reading this story. After this chapter/episode, I have two more planned. I hope you like it.

* * *

EPISODE 7: The Cure for Excess

* * *

_Episode recap: The Cesaires are reassigned_.

The diplomatic hangar was once again cleared of equipment and decorated in celebration. A receiving line led again to a small clutch of Noir and Earthlings on the dias with Ambassador Bourgeois and Colonel Damocles bookending the guests of honor.

Marinette and other members of the red squad had gone through to pay their respects to Plagg and Tikki. A wedding ceremony had been held aboard the UMS Spiro the week prior, and Tikki had already experienced her farewell reception on the research vessel. Tonight was to welcome her officially to the crew, and to celebrate the couple's formal remarriage.

Marinette spied Agreste - Minou - on the dias, looking dangerously bored with the line of well-wishers. With Elathan on his right and Gore on his left, he was stuck until the receiving line was done. He caught her eye and glared at her jealously, mouthing, "Lucky." She bit her smile and turned away to search for Alya.

She knew her bestie was somewhere in attendance tonight. She had already seen Alya with a few other mechanics and had assumed that they had gotten in line as a group like the pilots had. But now that was done, Marinette was eager to find her friend and catch up. They had both been so busy recently that they hadn't chatted in forever, and Marinette sought to use this opportunity to make up for some lost time.

She excused herself from the group and went off searching. After ten minutes, she ran into two of Alya's fellow mechanics who reported that Lieutenant Cesaire had wandered off without saying where she was going or if she would be back. Marinette thanked them and continued looking with a thoughtful frown on her face.

When she stumbled into Nino, she asked him if he had seen Alya recently. There was a moment of awkwardness as they both remembered how Marinette had conspired with Agreste to bring Alya and Nino together, but it vanished in the blink of an eye and he replied with a shake of his head that, "No, I haven't seen her. But if I run across her, I'll let her know you're looking for her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a thing…"

Nino gave her arm a squeeze and walked out. The Noir had progressed by leaps and bounds since they had first joined the crew and his services weren't really needed anymore. If he needed to slip away, no one would probably notice.

Once Nino was clear of the hangar and the doors shut behind him, he breathed a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. Nerves were not-so-slowly eating at his stomach. He swayed slightly on his feet trying to decide where to go, what to do, then plucked up his courage and headed toward a now-familiar closet a few decks down.

.o8o.

When he and Alya had first been locked in a closet for Seven Minutes in Heaven, he had wanted to strangle Agreste. A quarter-hour into it, and he wanted to thank Agreste. But by the time they had been rescued, nearly two hours had been spent in that closet; they had made out and then talked, and then Alya had kept talking - making plans to get back at the two responsible for trapping them there.

Part of those plans involved not admitting how successful the scheme had been. Nino had been disappointed by that, hoping their relationship would extend beyond the confined space. But he had given it his best shot. If Alya didn't want to continue, he couldn't force it.

And he didn't. He played it cool. Alya didn't want people to know, and he respected that.

But a few days later, Alya found him. She had been dealing with flyers that had come back from the station's minefield in less than mint condition and looked grouchy.

"My shift ends in 4.5 hours," she told him. "Think you can find us a closet by then?"

He gaped at her while his brain exhausted itself trying to interpret and reinterpret her words. This was his job; he was a translator. But he couldn't imagine she actually meant what her words sounded like.

"Is that a 'no thanks?'" she asked him after a while. She huffed and began to pivot away.

"Wait!" He grabbed her hand. "No! That's not a 'no.' That's not a 'no thanks.' That is a definite 'yes.'"

She eyed him skeptically.

"That is a 'yes.' It's a 'yes please,'" he assured her. "But I thought you didn't want…" He trailed off, unwilling to say it.

"I don't want people to know," she said matter-of-factly. "That doesn't mean nothing is going on. You still want to meet up?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "Yes, please."

Alya smiled and Nino knew he had made the right decision. "Good," she said. "When you find a spot, send the address to the hangar. I'll meet you there in four and a half hours."

He watched her walk away with a smirk growing on his face. When she was gone, the logistics of it hit him and he sprang into action. He found a nondescript closet a few decks down, spent over an hour inside it dusting and shifting things around, dropped off the address with Alya's captain, and put himself through a hygiene cycle. The last thing he wanted was for Alya to be less impressed with him than the closet.

Then… he waited. He should have given himself an errand to kill some time rather than standing in the closet for a half hour or more, because a half hour slowly turned into three-quarters without so much as a peep from her.

Had Alya stood him up? Was this a prank, a joke to see if he would lock his own self into a closet?

Then, other explanations began to occur to him. Maybe he written down the address incorrectly. Maybe she gotten lost on the way there. Flyers were still clearing mines around the station, maybe there had been trouble in the hangar.

Just when he was starting to wonder how long he should wait before leaving, there was a rap on the door. It opened long enough for Alya to slip inside. Her eyes quickly took in the small space and she smiled appreciatively, then her gaze focused solely on him. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

.o8o.

Nino didn't want to jinx it or otherwise ruin a good thing, but he wondered how long they could keep meeting in secret.

The first time they had ended up in a closet together, tricked into it by well-meaning busybodies, had been a mixed bag. The second time had been hot. Likewise the third time, and the fourth, and so on. But there was a point where Nino wanted more than a secret hookup. Surely they had reached that point.

"Babe," he began as he watched her comb her fingers through her hair, pulling the unruly curls back into a tame bun. She could have worn her hair in styles that would be harder to muss, but significantly harder to fix, and he found that detail fascinating. A simpler hairstyle meant that she was hoping or planning to meet with him.

She hummed to signal that she was listening.

"Do you want to have lunch with me sometime?" he asked. "Or we could watch a vid in a rec lounge. Or have a few drinks on the observation deck while the station is still spinning below us. Or go for a walk on the botany track. I'll even let you trounce me in a game of tag, so long as you admit I'm going easy on you."

Her hands stilled and he had her complete attention. "You mean, like a date?"

His first instinct was to deny everything but he beat it down. He didn't get this far in the relationship by denying his attraction to her. "Yeah, kinda. I want to do more with you than we can do in a closet. And I want to see Agreste's and Marinette's heads explode when they see us together," he admitted.

"What about my dad?" she asked, her voice dangerously neutral.

"Nothing so messy as an exploding head," he tried to joke, "but I'd like to inform Hector that I'm dating his daughter. We don't need to tell him everything."

She twisted her lips thoughtfully. It wasn't quite agreement.

"Think about it," Nino conceded. "There's no need to decide right now."

"I will," she said and gave him a peck on the lips. "I'll see you at the Noir reception in a few days."

"I can't wait."

.o8o.

Nino Lahiffe was a natural fit for the diplomatic corps. He was calm, cool, and collected. He was smart. He had an ear for languages, and an eye for the little ticks and expressions that didn't fit into the spoken word. He was personable and respectful. It was hard to find someone who actively disliked him, or who could persuade others who knew him to dislike him.

It was part of his job to be calm, to smooth any ruffled feathers, to cool any hot tempers. Even when he was nervous, he was trained to present a relaxed facade. And just like his ability to understand different languages, this wasn't something he could just turn off when he was off duty. So to say that Nino was calm at the reception was a believable lie. He was not calm but at least he looked it.

He wanted to see Alya and hear that she had enough time to consider coming out of the closet - literally and figuratively - with him. He wasn't admitting to the alternative - hoping that if she couldn't agree to it now, she just needed more time to think about it or perhaps some gentle persuasion - but somewhere in the back of his mind, the possibility that she would just call it quits menaced his mood.

Then he saw her, her hair arranged in a professional but terribly complicated knot, the look in her eyes despairing. He could feel that despair settle in his own stomach.

"Lieutenant Cesaire," he said, a detachment wavering in his voice. "Are you looking for your father?" It was a stupid question, as Dr. Cesaire was obviously on the dias near his new colleague.

"We need to talk," she said without preamble.

The dread in Nino's stomach leapt into his veins and sped through his body. "Here?" he asked. His voice sounded muffled to his ears.

"I'm going to leave," she answered indirectly. "Wait twenty minutes and then follow me." There was no need to state where they would meet. They only ever met in one place. Without further explanation, she left, threading her way through the clusters of people chatting happily at the reception.

Nino closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths. This was the opposite of how he wanted to end his day. Then he slowly walked the room, counting down the minutes until he should leave. He was just about ready to go when Marinette came up to him, asking if he had seen Alya.

He lied to throw her off the scent and then walked out. It wasn't until he was standing in the hall that he wondered to himself what exactly he had said to Alya's best friend. Shaking himself to keep his head, he started walking to the lift so he could drop down a few decks. He had to walk past the first few because there was already one or two people waiting, and he didn't want anyone to see what floor he went to.

At last he was on the same deck as Alya. His footsteps brought him closer and closer to her. His pace was erratic, naturally slowing before he could remember to walk normally. Her warning - "we need to talk" - played in an infinite loop in his head and he couldn't imagine a universe in which that meant good news.

He stopped in front of a nondescript storage room, nothing more than a closet. Their closet. He open the door and slipped into the darkened space to find her already there.

"Alya," he said, fighting back nerves, "what's up?"

She didn't speak but pulled him into a kiss. This was not the greeting he expected.

"Um, Alya?" he began when the kiss ended. He knew that kissing was a very effective way to communicate within certain populations, but he didn't believe that was what she had in mind when she summoned him.

She responded by bursting into tears.

Nino scrambled to comfort her, pulling her to him and rocking her, patting the braids on her scalp, whispering soothing nonsense in seven languages. Finally, her sobs subsided into intermittent hiccups.

"Babe, what happened?" he asked when he felt like she could answer him coherently.

"My dad is being reassigned," she said, a whine building up in her voice. "He got his new orders this morning."

"What?" He was numb. "But he's mission critical. We can't have Noir on board if we don't have a medical officer who is qualified to treat them." As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew why Hector Cesaire was being transferred.

"But they have a new Noir expert," said Alya, the whine being replaced by something bitter. "Part of me knows that it isn't Dr. Tikki's fault, but another part of me blames her for this."

"When? How long?"

She sniffled as tears threatened to return. "He leaves on the Spiro next week. The rest of the family will follow in just over a month, when my brothers finish their current grading period."

"But - " he stammered out of words. He pulled her tight and she wrapped her arms around his back, melting a little.

"You don't have to go with him," Nino realized.

She shifted to look him in the eye. Her brow rose in a question.

"You don't have to go with him," Nino stated more confidently. "You're a lieutenant assigned to Engineering and Maintenance on the Françoise Dupont. The orders are for your dad, not you. You already have a job here. You could stay." He didn't add iif you wanted to/i.

She looked up at him, her features torn but open to reasoning.

.o8o.

Agreste watched Marinette move about the small kitchen. It was not as poetic as watching her pilot a simulator craft, but he could draw similarities with her efficient motions and her thoughts dancing three steps ahead. She spread a layer of frosting over the crumb layer of a cake she had made especially for Alya, spinning the cake on a stand to keep the frosting even.

She paused to step back and appraise her work.

"You know you could do this professionally," Agreste pointed out as he reached a finger as if to swipe a taste.

She quickly slapped his hand with the flat side of her frosting knife and he yelped and jerked his hand back.

"Yes," she agreed with a frown. "Baking is much safer than the piloting a flyer. You're beginning to sound like my parents."

"Safer, yes," he said, "but you're Lucky enough to be a pilot."

She glared at him for a moment before picking up a piping bag filled with a dark blue frosting. "Stay back," she warned him. "I don't want to argue while I'm decorating."

"I could help," he offered.

Marinette laughed at the image that conjured. "You would end up eating all the frosting, Minou. When I make you a cake, if you want to help, I won't mind if you eat everything before I even bake it. But this isn't your cake; this is for Alya. So stand back."

His ears drooped in disappointment. "Can I at least watch?"

"From a safe distance," she said, not bothering to look at him. "And you can clean up the extra icing when I'm done."

"Really? Do you mean it?" She could almost hear his ears twitch with excitement at the offer.

"Yes, of course."

Before she knew what was happening, he had wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "Thank you, Lucky," he said, dipping his chin low to rest on her shoulder.

"Agreste!" she shrieked. He had not only squeezed her but also the bag of blue frosting. A large dollop of it rested unattractively on the top of Alya's cake.

"Sorry," he offered in apology before his finger swiped it up, leaving nothing but a divot in the otherwise perfect layer of white buttercream.

"Agreste! Minou! Get out of my kitchen!" she said, shooing him out before making repairs.

It was a solid half-hour before she called him back in. The cake was finished, the message "Felicitations Alya!" spread across the top of the cake with dots of blue clustered on the top and sides.

Agreste stared covetously, grumbling about the unfairness of the mechanic getting two birthdays in a single year while he only had one.

"The first birthday was on the Kwamiian calendar," Marinette explained, taking his complaint in stride. "This is for her Earth-calendar birthday. No one is stopping you from doing the same thing, you know. You just need to tell people when it is."

Agreste's eyes lit up. "Noir years are shorter than Kwamiian years," he pointed out. "I could have a lot of birthday cakes."

Marinette just snorted at his childlike gluttony and finished cleaning up. Her parents tended to lecture her if she left messes behind and wasn't otherwise respectful of the shared space. She understood their reasoning but she still grumbled under her breath.

Agreste made suitable compliments to her baking and decorating skills and he grinned widely when she handed him the depleted piping bag.

He happily hummed as Marinette boxed up the cake to transport to the party.

"Wash up," she warned him. "Let's go. You can't have a party without dessert."

He cleaned up himself and then looked at her earnestly. "Lucky, move in with me."

Marinette stuttered, "Wh-What? Why? What?"

"Move in with me," he repeated with even more sincerity.

"Are you even allowed to do that?" her mouth blurted out before her brain could stop it.

"Of course! I'm a free Noir. I'm allowed to move into my own space," he said. "We were just all assigned together to help us acclimate to the foreign ship. So will you do it?"

"Ah, Agreste, but why do you want to move out?" she stalled for time. "You won't get anywhere as much space with me as you currently have."

"I don't like living there," he said simply.

Marinette blinked but didn't respond.

"Have you ever had to live with married people?" he grimaced. "It's not as much space as you think. And Gore is very serious all the time. He never wants to talk about anything except news of battles against the Akuma. And Elathan… Elathan is not an option. She has no respect for my privacy or my schedule. She is making me bald!" he huffed, taking his fingers through the thick hair of his collar.

Marinette tried not to smile at his distress. "I'm sure this is just short-term. I get that way around my parents every so often when our shifts sync up and they're always at home when I want some peace and quiet. And then our schedules slip again and I literally don't see them for a few weeks, and I miss them. You just need to gIve it some time. Either you'll get over this rough patch or things will settle into a new normal."

"But I have been thinking about it for a while. I want to move out, Ladybug. Will you join me?"

"Cat, maybe you've been thinking about it but I haven't. I don't know if I'm ready to move out," she admitted, meeting his honesty with her own. Her family was assigned to a three-person unit, but as soon as she was assigned elsewhere, her home would be eligible for anyone else that needed a three-unit. Her parents could be moved to smaller quarters before she decided that a roommate wasn't working out. And then she'd be sent to bachelor barracks. "And besides, I think Alya has first dibs on me as a roommate when I move out."

"I thought we agreed that I was your bestie," he sulked.

"Yes but we also agreed not to mention that to Alya," she countered. "And who's to say that you won't get as sick of me as your current roommates?" she continued. The delegation wasn't gaining space for Tikki so Marinette didn't think they would lose space if Agreste moved out, so he could always move back. "You think you're sick of your fellow Noir but you spend far more time with me than anyone else as it is. Maybe the reason why you aren't pulling your hair out over me is because we do have that separation?"

He nodded to show that he was listening though clearly he was disappointed.

"I'll tell you what," she said to cheer him up. "Let's have a sleepover. You can stay here for a night. It'll get you away from your roommates, clear your head, and you can practice being elsewhere."

Agreste leaned down so he could whisper in her ear without anyone overhearing even though no one else was around. "Thank you, Lucky."

.o8o.

Alya's party was in a cantina near the hangar that had been reserved for the occasion. People had already started to arrive when Marinette and Agreste walked in with the cake. Alya greeted them with hugs and directed them to the food table where people were gathered in small clusters. Nino Lahiffe arrived soon after and joined the other guests once he had paid his respects to the guest of honor.

After welcoming a few more, Alya moved away from the door and grabbed a drink. Jokes and laughter filled the space although Marinette thought she saw a tightness in Alya's smile. Eventually the cake was unboxed to a smattering of cheers and applause. A speech was called for and Alya humbly complied.

"Thank you all for coming," she began. "It means a lot to me that so many of you are here. Even if it isn't really my birthday."

There were a few frowns at that. Agreste looked to his partner in confusion.

"I apologize for lying to you, but I really wanted to have this party. I have some important news and I wanted to surprise you all." Alya kept her tone neutral. "As you may know, I came to the UMS Françoise Dupont nearly two years ago as a cadet. My family has moved around a lot because my father - Dr. Hector Cesaire - has a unique and adaptable skillset. We were sent here so that he could do a job and now the UM has decided to send him elsewhere for a different job."

People were now staring with wide, confused eyes. Some mouths were hanging open. Some guests were shaking their heads as they guessed where this story was going.

"My dad is leaving with the Spiro in less than a week," Alya told them. "He'll travel to his next assignment and get setup. He hasn't told me yet where he's going. Once he's comfortable, he'll send for the rest of the family. It should take a few months."

There were a few calls of protest at the thought of Lt Cesaire leaving the Françoise Dupont.

"I'm glad you feel that way," she smiled. "Because I've decided to stay."

A murmur rippled through the crowd as people absorbed what she was saying. Agreste let out a happy cry. Marinette surged forward to hug her friend, then others did the same.

Seemingly last was Nino Lahiffe, who had hung back while other guests crowded forward to hug Alya Cesaire. When there was again enough space around the woman of the hour, he stepped forward and wiped a stray tear that had started to fall down her cheek. Then he leaned forward and lightly kissed her once. Then again more firmly.

The assembled guests reacted to the display in various demonstrations of surprise. Marinette's mouth fell open and she gaped. Someone else laughed and clapped. A know-it-all called out, "I knew it!," prompting laughter from others. A few encouraging cat-calls were heard.

Agreste's eyes bulged and he tried to make sense of it. "What are they doing?" he whispered to Marinette.

"They're kissing?" she said as if she couldn't trust her eyes.

.o8o.

A two-person unit was assigned to Alya and Nino a few weeks after Hector left on the Spiro. Magda Cesaire weepily helped her daughter pack but was too emotional to move the boxes to Alya's first home away from her parents, even if it was only four decks away for now.

The task of helping to cart the boxes on moving day fell to Marinette, who accepted it willingly. She was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that Alya and Nino were together, and seeing her bestie comfortably settled with the translator would help it sink in.

Nino was already there and unpacking when Alya and Marinette carried their first boxes over the threshold. He had drafted Agreste into helping him and the Noir soon appeared with more boxes on a cart.

Taking their turn with the cart, the women made short work of transferring the rest of Alya's things. Marinette and Agreste stayed to help set up the kitchen and living room but then Alya unveiled a treat from her mom and work stopped as the four took a break.

As they were eating, they hummed in appreciation. "There won't be any cake left by the time my mom comes to see my new place tomorrow," Alya observed.

"Our new place," Nino corrected.

"I think my mom isn't ready to think of it as our place," said Alya.

"Well, you did kind of surprise… everybody," Marinette countered.

"Well, if you wouldn't have locked us in a closet..." Alya began, implying that it was Marinette's and Agreste's fault.

Marinette rolled her eyes. "If you hadn't ended up in that closet, you and Nino wouldn't have happened, and you'd be helping your mom to pack up and follow your dad to who-knows-where again."

She had meant to be teasing, but a pained expression flitted across Alya's face. As Marinette backtracked and apologized, Alya only felt worse. The UM was constantly sending her dad ahead to his next assignment, but this was the first time that she wasn't going to join him. Alya had no idea when she'd see her father again and the fact was just now sinking in. She managed to blink past the tears that gathered in her eyes but the mood had shifted too far.

"Um, I think we've got it from here," Nino said. "If you two wanted to head out, that's fine."

Marinette nodded, feeling small. She and Agreste let Nino walk them out. As soon as they were in the public corridor and the door was shut behind them, Marinette apologized profusely, but Nino waved it away.

"I knew this separation was bothering her more than she would admit. Now at least maybe she'll talk to me about it," he shrugged. "It didn't end on a high note, but thanks a lot for all your help," he added. "I hope you two can still finish the night with something fun."

"Oh, we will," assured Agreste. "Marinette had invited me to have a sleepover with her."

"A what-now?" Nino asked, not certain he understood what the Noir was trying to say.

"Nino, surely you remember having sleepovers as a kid," said Marinette with a look that warned him to think clean thoughts. "Agreste was complaining about feeling too crowded in the Noir quarters so I invited him over to give him a break for one night."

Nino didn't reply to her but switched over to Agreste's native tongue, speaking at a rapid pace and leaving Marinette behind in the conversation despite all the noir phrases she had picked up from Agreste and Tikki.

Agreste's responses were easier to follow. No. No. Yes. No. Yes. Then he went still.

Nino glared at him then rolled his head back as Agreste suddenly and rapidly began speaking, defending himself against some accusation that Marinette couldn't understand.

"What did you say?" she said to the both of them. "What are you talking about?"

Neither paid her any heed as the Noir kept his rapid explanations coming forth.

Finally Nino held up his hand and Agreste ran out of words.

"What is going on?" Marinette asked, feeling like she was repeating herself.

"Don't worry. We've got it sorted," Nino answered dismissively. "I'm going to go check on Alya." With that he went back inside his new quarters.

Marinette glared at the door but it did not wilt so she turned to Agreste who had other things to do than make eye contact.

"I'm going to go pack," he announced, heading toward a lift without a goodbye.

"Wait up," she called, trailing after him. "I know you and Nino were talking about the sleepover. What did he say to you?"

"Nothing," he blatantly lied. "I need to finish packing."

"But you already packed,"she said, still talking to his back as he refused to look at her. "You told me so."

"I forgot something. I'll meet you at your place later."

With that the lift doors opened and he jumped inside. Marinette was tempted to follow him, but stopped herself. Agreste wasn't in the mood to talk right now, but she could probably wear him down later. Maybe cookies would loosen his tongue.

.o8o.

Agreste was a little late but he showed up at her door looking eager for the sleepover. Whatever uneasiness he had picked up from his talk with Nino had completely dissipated. He greeted her parents with warmth and the four fell into an easy conversation.

Black Cat knew from listening to Ladybug's complaints, to avoid any mention of the dangers of her job in front of Tom and Sabine. Instead, he focused on the increasing difficulties he experienced in the Noir quarters: the constant challenges to improve himself from Gore; the total lack of sympathy from Elathan; the frequent questioning on improper topics from Tikki to learn all that she had missed; and the judgement of Plagg. He told only funny stories - funny from his point-of-view - and his hosts were for the most part entertained.

Eventually, Tom and Sabine excused themselves. They were scheduled for an early shift the next day and couldn't stay up late. The younger people wished them goodnight as they disappeared behind their bedroom door.

"I like your family," Agreste told Marinette when they were alone.

"That's only because they haven't asked for the minute particulars about Plagg's romantic history," Marinette teased.

Agreste shuddered and she laughed harder.

"Can you not remind me, please?" he begged.

Marinette just grinned. "Alright," she agreed. "Why don't you get changed for bed and we can continue talking in my room? I have a special treat for you."

At the phrase, 'special treat,' Agreste didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed his bag and went to the bathroom.

Marinette went into her room, quickly changed into her pajamas, and rearranged her hair from the tight, regulation bun to a loose braid that trailed down her back. By the time Agreste knocked on her door, she was already hanging the guest hammock next to her bed.

"Hey, you," she greeted him. "What do you think?"

"It's perfect," he said. "It just needs a few blankets," which he then pulled out of his bag.

Once his bed was made, he climbed up into it and Marinette settled herself on her mattress near him.

"So, now for that special treat mentioned," she began as she bent down to grab a small container. "Cookies!" she announced, taking the top off with a flourish.

"I really don't deserve you," Agreste said. It was unclear whether he was talking to his partner or the baked goods. He took the container from her and popped three small ones in his mouth before moaning his approval.

Marinette laughed at his reaction. The childish pleasure he took from her baking never failed to delight her. Still, it was meant to be an occasional indulgence, not an everyday thing.

"Do you want to pick out a vid for us to watch?" she deferred to him.

He waved away the rights to pick. He was more content to eat the cookies than to choose something for the screen in Marinette's room.

She had already expected him to be too interested in eating to have a firm opinion of the vid. Instead, she asked him to choose between two vids that she had already picked. Then they snuggled under their blankets and watched.

Halfway through the show, she tried to sound casual as she asked, "So what did you and Nino talk about anyway?"

As expected, Agreste froze. Then he tried to pass it off as nothing, but Marinette wasn't buying it.

Eventually, he admitted that Nino had lectured him on cultural differences between Noir and Earthlings.

"What kind of differences?" she pressed.

"Bedtime rituals," he offered.

"Could you be a little more specific?"

He looked at her in a sulk and huffed a sigh. "Noir sleep differently than Earthlings," he said. "We wrap ourselves in blankets while you… have pagodas."

"I'm sorry, what?" Something must have gone wrong, because she didn't understand him.

"Pagodas," he repeated. "The clothes for sleeping."

"Pajamas," she corrected him. Noir had blankets and Earthlings had pajamas.

Her eyebrows shot up at the realization. It made the stories he told about sleeping and waking in the Noir quarters much more… vivid.

"Agreste, you were not planning on sleeping naked in my room," she told him. If he had walked into her room completely naked and offered to help hang the guest hammock, she would have freaked out.

"Blankets!" was his only answer.

She stared at him, mimicking his Noir stillness, then burst into laughter. "Remind me never to come to your place for a sleepover," she huffed out between her cackles.

After a short moment, Agreste's laughter joined hers.


	8. Surrogates

**UMS Françoise DuPont**

* * *

EPISODE 8: Surrogates

* * *

_Episode recap: Tikki shares some important news with Marinette._

Agreste became a part-time resident of Marinette's home, a refugee in typical Noir fashion. He didn't stop living in the Noir quarters but he spent even less time there than before. It meant that if another Noir wanted to speak with him, they had to plan for it in advance.

Plagg scheduled a meeting with him on Agreste's day off about two months after Agreste had his first sleepover at Marinette's.

Marinette made a lunch date with Tikki at the same time. It had been a while since the two women had gotten together and Marinette wanted to see her friend.

Having listened to Agreste's stories of living with Tikki, Marinette had a new perspective on Tikki's versions of the same tales, and she couldn't miss teasing her friend when she knew that there was more to the story.

Still, Agreste himself came up as a topic when they had finished their meal and had begun their walk. Marinette wasn't sure if she mentioned him first or if Tikki did, but she asked casually what Plagg had wanted to meet about.

Tikki smoothed her uniform and shyly announced that she and Plagg had decided to have children.

"What!?" Marinette exclaimed joyfully. "Tikki that's wonderful news. You'll be an amazing parent. Are you asking Agreste to be a..." She stopped as she realized she didn't know the Kwamiian word for 'godfather.'

Tikki agreed without further prompting.

"So when are you due?" Marinette asked.

"Me?" asked Tikki, ears twitching in embarrassment. "But I can't - The Akuma injured me when I was their prisoner. I can't have children of my own. We've talked about it and what alternatives are available for us. After all that I endured during my capture, I think I'd prefer to adopt orphans who lost their families to Akum - to make one whole family from our broken shards. In that, Plagg and I in agreement, and we have even brought the ambassador to our side. Unfortunately, we do not know where to find such children, neither of us is in a position to leave the ship to seek them out, and the commander is unwilling to divert the carrier further after all the time spent at the space station."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Marinette.

Tikki lifted her hands in resignation before drawing them together. "Rather than trying to wait for a miracle to happen, we have decided to create our own. I have asked and Elathan has consented to be my surrogate."

But if Elathan was going to be the surrogate, that meant...

"So Elathan will be the biological mother and Plagg will be the father?" she asked, trying to keep her voice and expression neutral. She imagined that, as Tikki was a doctor, that they would merely have to artificially inseminate Elathan as the surrogate.

"No," said Tikki, looking almost shocked. "When we married, he promised to have no children that are not mine. It was a very common vow, once upon a time. Even now, some ceremonies include it, but more and more free Noir are omitting it. Not out of an expectation that their union will fail, but because so many widows and widowers are made perpetually childless and we will not survive if we don't have more children. No, instead we have decided to get creative and to use this to achieve another goal of Plagg's. He is asking Agreste to be the other surrogate today."

Marinette's eyes widened and she nearly tripped on nothing at all. "Agreste? But he's too young! And he doesn't like Elathan, not like that. At least, I don't think so." Her voice became quieter and less confident as she spoke, and she was suddenly worried that she had misunderstood more than she realized.

Tikki's ears twitched in amusement. "No, you are right about Agreste and Elathan," she confirmed. "At least for now. She was intentionally assigned to the DuPont in the hopes that she and Agreste would form an attachment, but so far they have been uninterested in each other romantically." She sighed then smiled hopefully. "But perhaps this is the push they need to find their common ground."

"But isn't Agreste too young for this?" Marinette pressed. "I mean, I know that you and Plagg plan on acting as the parents but if Agreste isn't ready to father a child, wouldn't Gore be better?"

Tikki looked at her, head tilted to the side, ears likewise splayed at different angles. "How young do you think Agreste is?" she wondered.

"Well… too young for this?" Marinette said doubtfully. "I mean, he's like a kid. He's always just a little silly, telling bad jokes. And his hair… his collar is so short; that's a clear sign of a young Noir." That was one detail that she always remembered from the lectures on the Noir. And while there were times she thought she detected Agreste's collar getting long, she would realize the next day that it had been an optical illusion or something like that.

At that last statement, Tikki's ears were twitching with mirth, it made Marinette feel foolish, like she was missing something important.

"You Earthlings have something similar, yes?" Tikki asked. "Some hair does not grow until you reach physical maturity?"

Marinette started to nod. She wondered if she needed to explain about puberty, then remembered that Tikki was a doctor. "Yes, we do."

"And all the adult Earthling men should have full beards, yes?"

"Well, except the UM has a dress code that extends to hairstyles," Marinette explained. "Like, I have to wear my hair back because it is long. And a guy can have facial hair so long as he keeps it short, but most choose to shave their beard completely."

She gasped as the pieces finally clicked. "Agreste has been cutting his hair all this time?"

Tikki nodded. "And you thought he was a child all this time?" she asked, humor seeping into her voice.

"Well…" she sputtered, unable to think of a reply that didn't make her look more clueless and stupid but Tikki was already laughing.

"In my defense," she finally said, "I had never met a Noir before the delegation came to the DuPont. And Agreste does act younger than the rest of you."

"And you, my friend, are just as bad as he is," Tikki told her. "I mentioned to my med tech that you and Agreste have sleepovers and she wanted to know how old you were because, in her opinion, sleepovers are for children."

Marinette blushed in embarrassment, but Tikki squeezed her hand affectionately.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "You two both have youthful spirits; it's what makes you such good friends to each other. That is very rare in a Noir in the current era. And if my children have only a tenth of Agreste's natural joy, then I know they will have a happy life no matter what happens."

.o8o.

Marinette wasn't sure how she felt about the surrogacy. On the one hand, she was happy for Tikki. On the other hand, surrogacy had a mixed history… Well, it wasn't exactly her business. If Agreste was excited, then she would be happy for him. And even if he wasn't looking forward to it now, he might change his mind.

When Marinette had asked Tikki how in general this would work, the Noir medical officer explained that they were hoping that Agreste and Elathan would consent to become physically intimate with each other rather than insist on medical professionals to perform the extractions and insertions. Tikki indicated that Elathan had already agreed to that approach so the pressure would be on Agreste to do the same. And if, after one or two pregnancies for Plagg and Tikki, the young couple decided to formalize their relationship and to have children of their own, well, no one would be surprised.

Marinette was still uncomfortable with the idea. It felt too much like an arranged marriage which struck the Earthling as rather regressive. People should be free to love whoever they chose, not forced into an intimate relationship with a relative stranger. The fact that Elathan was not a stranger to Agreste only made the whole thing more distasteful. As Tikki had pointed out, Agreste was an adult; if he had been romantically or even just physically drawn to the other Noir, they would already be together.

Then Marinette tried to think of it from the Noir point of view. Their people had been slaughtered and scattered by Akum. There were only so many free Noir left in the universe. If their population was to recover, then they needed to have children. Agreste needed to have children. And there were only so many choices for who he could have children with.

But surely there were more choices than just Elathan.

Then again, just because Marinette wasn't Elathan's biggest fan, just because Agreste had started sleeping elsewhere in part to avoid her, didn't mean that he couldn't change his mind. It was an infinite universe and stranger things had happened.

Still, she wouldn't bet on it.

Of course, she wouldn't say that until she saw Agreste and learned his feelings on the subject. Maybe his "youthful spirit" wanted to be a father and would welcome this opportunity. In which case, as his friend, Marinette would be happy for him.

.o8o.

Agreste was not happy. He looked a little shell-shocked when he showed up in the hangar.

Mad Dog hounded him for being late but Agreste's replies were muted and lagging.

"Are you sick?" snapped the captain when the lieutenant had failed once again to reply with a crisp, "Yes sir!"

"No!" Agreste finally responded with some animation. "No sir, I'm fine." That was too far fetched for anyone to believe.

"I mean, I'm not sick, I'm just tired. I slept poorly last night and now I'm tired," the Noir rambled. His posture drooped, from his ears to his frown to his shoulders.

Mad Dog glared at him, sizing him up and realizing that today at least was one day in which Agreste fell short. "You're on errand and desk duty today," he decided. It was something of a punishment, but Agreste was in no condition to climb into a flyer. Even the simulator would be a waste of time in his present state.

Agreste bowed his head, cognizant at least that he was out of favor, and trudged over to the desk.

"Ladybug," barked the captain, "I want you to run the simulator in between nanny duty. Check on sleepy head through the day and send him to the med bay before he screws up too badly."

Marinette gave a crisp salute and got to work. Half an hour later, she was able to swing by the duty desk and check on her partner.

He looked miserable. While she could guess why, she didn't want to jump to conclusions.

"What's up, Black Cat?" she asked, causing him to jump in his seat.

When he settled back in his chair, he buried his face in his hands and slumped across the surface of the desk.

"I don't want to talk about it," came the muffled words from behind his hands.

Marinette wondered briefly if she should let Agreste know what Tikki had told her or if he would prefer to keep it a secret a little longer, in his imagination at least. But then she thought that, were their situations reversed, she would appreciate the opportunity to unburden herself to a trusted friend.

"If it's about Tikki and Plagg and Elathan, I might have heard something about it yesterday," she admitted vaguely. If he wanted to deny it, she could easily pretend to be talking about something else.

Even with his face down, she could still see him go still with embarrassment.

"I have to go and check on Reflecta but if you want to talk about it later, just let me know," she offered before quietly slinking back to the simulator control booth.

It wasn't until she took a break to visit the cantina that Agreste approached her, following close behind like a silent and devastated black shadow through the corridor.

"So, you don't seem very excited," she observed when she sat down with her selection of food. Agreste sat heavily next to her having opted to skip eating while his stomach was tied up in knots.

"I don't want to do it," he said forlornly.

Marinette gave him a sympathetic smile. This was what she expected, and it was with some relief that she realized she knew her partner as well as she did. "I'm sure Tikki will understand." The Noir doctor would be disappointed but time would eventually provide the opportunity to make up for Agreste's refusal.

"I didn't say no," he huffed, sprawling across the table top and accidentally pushing away her tray of food.

"Oh?" she wondered. "Did Plagg ask you to think about it before giving your final answer?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Agreste said piteously.

Marinette nodded and scooted closer to her lunch, willing to give him silent support if he wanted it.

After ten minutes he lifted his head. "Ladybug," he asked, "can I stay at your place tonight?"

"Sure," she answered without much thought. He parents' schedule was now opposite her own, so she didn't think she needed to let them know in advance, and Agreste really looked like he could use some distance between himself and the rest of the Noir delegation right now.

"Oh, wait!" she suddenly remembered. "I'm supposed to catch up with Alya and Nino after our shift today. Do you want to join us or would you rather just meet me at my place later?"

Agreste sighed. "Let me think about it."

.o8o.

In the end, Agreste decided to go with her. Nino might not have a full and complete understanding of the position Agreste was in, but he could at least speak the language, and Agreste sorely needed someone to talk to on his own terms.

"Yo, bestie, what's got you down?" Nino said as soon as he saw the Noir.

Agreste wasted no time in asking for a private word, and Nino complied with a nonchalant promise to be back soon.

"What was that about?" asked Alya as soon as the men were gone on a walk.

Marinette hesitated. She didn't want to share anything that wasn't meant to be shared. "Well, Plagg asked Agreste for a favor and, while it's an honor, he really doesn't want to do it. I don't know if I'm allowed to say more than that."

"Is it some freaky Noir thing?" asked Alya bluntly.

Marinette sputtered and blushed bright red. "I'm sure I don't know," she managed to choke out.

Alya was disbelieving but she knew she could always wring the details from her boyfriend later so she let her friend change the topic.

She led her friend to the sofa where they sprawled out and told stories to catch up on everything they had missed.

Alya was still slightly depressed that her family was gone, but the latest transmission from her mom went far to making her feel better. And living with Nino was eye opening! Sometimes it was the most natural thing in the universe; other times she couldn't believe how foolish she was to agree to this. But, she was grateful more often than not. Nino really was a great roommate - considerate and thoughtful - and a great boyfriend, and she was proud of herself for having the courage to take this step.

Listening to Alya, Marinette wondered if she should have accepted Agreste's offer to move out together when she had the chance. She knew that there would be even more confusion and miscommunication between herself and Agreste than had been between Alya and Nino, but they had already resolved so many small things that she was sure that they would weather whatever else came next. They had easily surmounted the first hurdle - the Noir preference to sleep in the nude - with a pair of pajamas that Agreste kept at Marinette's place, although she had further compromised by letting him wear just the bottom half. While UM regulations governed the length of his collar, they didn't extend to parts of his body that were covered by his uniform, and she could easily see that the mane around his neck extended to a ridge of longer hair that ran down his spine.

And speaking of hair, she had learned that wearing her hair down and loose made Agreste so uncomfortable that he couldn't even look at her, but all she had to do was pull it into a low braid and throw it over her shoulders to set him at ease again. The exact reason why was a mystery but Marinette found it easy enough to keep her hair under control when Agreste was staying over. He had learned to keep his sweet tooth in check, and she had learned to enjoy classic Noir vids. They had a well-balanced dynamic.

By the time Nino and Agreste returned from their walk, the women had moved from the sofa to the kitchen, putting finishing touches on the meal and adding more ingredients to make it suitable for four instead of three. Then everyone gathered up the food and went to the nearest botanical public space for a picnic.

When they were done, Alya and Nino walked home hand-in-hand. Marinette and Agreste went their own way back to her place. His mood was better but fragile. Without Tom and Sabine to draw them into a conversation, they immediately prepared for bed. Unlike previous times, they had duty tomorrow and Agreste couldn't spend another day as exhausted and useless as he had been today.

.o8o.

Agreste had yet to give Plagg an answer. While it was clear to Marinette that he didn't want to do this, but it was equally apparent that he felt obliged to accept the honor.

He was no longer sleeping in the Noir quarters but his dreams were still troubled, waking Marinette with ineffectual noises of protest. Every time that she'd jostle him from those dreams, he'd deny that anything was wrong despite the clearly raised hackles down his spine. By refusing to admit to a problem, there was not much Marinette could do to comfort him, so he usually slipped back into a troubled doze.

Marinette suggested that maybe she could talk with Tikki and see if Plagg could retract his request. Agreste begged her - begged her! - to say nothing. It was unusual for someone who was not a principle to even know what was going on until the pregnancy was announced. For Marinette to lobby on Agreste's behalf was unheard of.

It was starting to wear on Marinette after a while. The only help Agreste was accepting from her was a place to sleep, and even that seemed only questionably helpful. He refused to talk about it, refused to let her talk about it with anyone else. The only thing he did was constantly lurk about with all the joy drained out of him, like a condemned man.

Marinette thought that if she could just talk to Nino about the situation, she'd feel better, but she couldn't find time away from Agreste to speak openly.

Then Agreste nervously mentioned that he needed to run an errand for... something... after their shift. He would knock on her door when he was done, if it wasn't too late. Marinette was, as usual, worried on his behalf, but the realization that she could shake down Nino for ideas and perspective was irresistible. She surreptitiously arranged with Alya to meet up after their shift and talk it out with Nino.

A little later, Alya came over and quietly mentioned that Agreste had already made plans to spend time with Nino, so the women decided to go to Marinette's quarters instead. Nino had already shared Agreste's predicament with Alya under strict secrecy, but as no one new would be there, they felt free to discuss it.

After a brief meal at the dining table in the Dupain-Cheng quarters, they retreated to Marinette's room where they could talk openly, without concern of her parents coming home and overhearing.

"Expecting someone?" Alya asked, pointing to the guest hammock still hanging up with Agreste's blankets piled upon it.

"He's been sleeping here nearly every night since it happened," Marinette said, preparing to unburden herself. She talked, and kept talking.

Alya let her go, waiting until Marinette had exhausted herself for the first round before throwing in her own opinion.

"Just so you know, I'm on your side. I think it's wrong," Alya said in agreement, "if he goes through with it against his will. But, not to play devil's advocate, he did lock two people in a closet. Maybe this is what karma looks like."

At Marinette's aghast expression, Alya continued, "Hey, I get it, it's wrong. It was wrong when he did it to Nino and me, and it's wrong now that Plagg is doing it to Agreste and Elathan. Nino and I have talked about it half a dozen times since we found out, but Nino doesn't know if there is anything we can do."

Marinette looked at her bestie in disbelief. "Why does Nino think that?" she asked.

"Lots of little reasons," Alya shrugged. "Noir society is on the brink. Nobody knows how many are left. Those that can pair up and have kids are under tremendous pressure to do so. That's the main reason why Nino believes Elathan is even here: to pair up with Agreste. Obviously it was a bad call; the two don't appear to be at all interested in each other. But the pressure remains, and important people may be willing to turn a blind eye to this if Agreste and Elathan are willing to go through with it."

"How is that possible?" Marinette exclaimed.

"Do you remember dating Hornet? Do you remember telling me in the middle of it that everything was fine, yet as soon as he was reassigned you were, like, giddy with relief?" Alya asked with a chastising glare. "If Agreste doesn't like Elathan the same way you didn't like Hornet, they could still end up together, at least temporarily."

It was too depressing. Marinette slumped on her bed and Alya joined her, looping an arm over Marinette's shoulders.

.o8o.

Eventually, Nino called. Agreste was leaving their quarters but the Noir had not mentioned coming to Marinette's.

Alya went home. It was late, but Marinette stayed up for a few more hours waiting to see if Agreste would come by.

He didn't.

Marinette went to bed but sleep eluded her. She started watching a noir vid out of habit but then switched to a classic earthling romance that ended with a climatic, satisfying kiss. She had never noticed it before, but none of the vids she watched with Agreste were romantic. This was all the more reason to have thought that he was younger, but it occurred to her that she wasn't sure what the noir equivalent to a kiss even looked like. Then she remembered spotting Tikki curl her fingers into Plagg's collar once or twice, and the embarrassed stillness that emanated from both of them when they realized that she had seen them. Perhaps that was it, but she didn't know how or why she could ask about it.

When she heard her parents moving about in the main room, she decided to get up and join them. They were happy to see her again after their schedules had kept the family apart, and her father insisted on making breakfast for the three of them. She enjoyed catching up with her parents, but as it grew closer to the start of her shift she felt her unease return.

Entering the hangar, she was greeted by the usual chaos associated with the change of shift. Queen Bee's red squad was wrapping up as Mad Dog's gold squad filtered in. Agreste was already there, at least in body. He looked tired but not as worn out as the first night after Plagg had asked for the favor. Marinette wondered again where he had gone and what he had done all night.

There was no time for chatter as Mad Dog called them to order and doled out assignments. Marinette took her list of tasks and got to work. Nothing she had been given overlapped with Agreste, so if she wanted to catch up with him, she'd have to do so during a break.

As she was returning from her latest errand she caught sight of Nightmare and Daisy-Chain leaping into their flyers and launching into space. She hadn't seen that on the schedule, and the general buzz about the hangar told her something exciting was happening.

"What's going on?" she asked Alya.

"The DuPont picked up a signal and the rocket jockeys are investigating," the mechanic answered.

"What kind of signal?"

Alya just shrugged. "Probably not a distress call if we're sending flyers."

Marinette bit her lip as she thought about it and tried to keep busy, but she had made no progress until the two other pilots returned. Mad Dog met them on the hangar floor and escorted then to his private office for a debrief. Whatever it was would stay a secret a little longer.

"Lucky," Agreste whispered in her ear after sneaking up so silently that she had to swallow her tongue in surprise, "what do you think that was about?"

"Cat, don't scare me like that!" she said at first. "I don't know," she added with a frown. "And where were you last night?"

"Here," he answered simply. "I slept on one of the spare cots. Queen Bee was not especially pleased, but she let me stay."

Marinette wanted to press for more details but the door to the captain's office opened and Agreste slunk away to look busy. Marinette was not so quick and Mad Dog ordered her to get to work.

After that, she was too busy to find Agreste again until the shift was more than half over and the red squad leader stormed in and made a beeline for her counterpart on the gold squad. The two had a somewhat explosive relationship, so perhaps it was not that unusual to see the start of their arguments.

Ladybug stared unabashedly through the window of the captain's office until Mad Dog clouded the glass. Then she blinked and looked around her, noticing for the first time that red squad members had started to trickle in.

"Why are you here now?" she whispered to Scarab. "It's nowhere near change of shift."

Scarab gave her a quick, contemptuous side-eye. "Queen wants us here now. Communications finally deciphered the distress call and she thinks we're the best squad to investigate."

Marinette's forehead wrinkled on its own. "But gold squad is on duty."

"Yeah, but you've been on duty all night," he said. In his mind, gold was on duty at night and red was on duty during the day. "It doesn't make sense to send you on an important mission when you're tired. That's when people make mistakes and get themselves killed."

Ladybug bristled at the challenge but before she could say anything cocky or stupid, Lt Colonel D'Argencourt walked past, silencing everyone in his wake. He went straight to the captain's office and knocked on the door.

The knock was ignored.

Scarab sucked in a breath in worry. Ignoring D'Argencourt was never good, even if you didn't realize it was him.

D'Argencourt pounded on the door twice. The noise inside stopped and the window cleared. Two faces peered out, then paled as they recognized the colonel. The office door opened a nanosecond later and the two captains tumbled out, tripping over each other to salute their superior officer.

"Children," D'Argencourt chastised them loudly, "if you are done squabbling, there might still be people left to save." He did not wait for their apologies but strode firmly to the briefing room.

Mad Dog and Queen Bee both ordered their squads to follow. In the mad scramble to comply, Marinette found herself at the back of the crowd, stuck standing along the back wall as other flyers had filled every available seat.

D'Argencourt, done wasting time on red-gold drama, began to speak almost as soon as he was in the room.

"At hour-2, the UMS Françoise Dupont picked up a distress signal from an Akuma transmitter several thousand kilometers away. Gold squad sent two flyers to track it. We had it in our sights for five minutes before it skipped back into lightspace. Based on its recorded trajectory, we can calculate it's path through space forwards and backwards."

He paused to show on the screens what he was talking about. A small, bright blue line connected to spots in space, then grew longer. As it lengthened, the line became less bright, wider, and less clear, demonstrating the uncertainty that crept in over time.

"The message itself is equally amazing and unhelpful," he continued. "It makes no mention of where exactly the injured craft is, or when the transmitter was launched. This path is all we have to extrapolate it's location. And, while the transmitter definitely traveled along this path, there is no knowing if the ship has drifted or intentionally moved since then.

"But the message itself explains why it is so poor. I will let Translator Lahiffe from the diplomatic corps explain it briefly to you."

With no further introduction, he stepped aside and let Nino stand up. Marinette noticed her friend was wearing his uniform and looked wired.

"It's noir," he said without preamble, his voice holding an edge of excitement. Marinette tried to stop her gaze from going straight to Agreste but she was not the only one to do so, nor was she the least successful. "At least two speakers, one of them juvenile. If they were being held as prisoners or slaves by the Akuma, they probably weren't trained in flying their craft, sending distress signals, or even reading the instruments. They mentioned that their ship was damaged and that they were stuck. They also asked for a doctor, but didn't mention any specific injuries. We can translate the words, but even then she's speaking in coded phrases, whether that's to keep details from the child or from anyone who is pursuing her, I don't know."

"Thank you, Lahiffe," D'Argencourt cut him off. "Obviously, one hypothesis is that this ship was taken over by Noir prisoners of war, and that the ship and crew were injured in the escape. It is probable that the Akuma have given chase, and it is possible that the Noir will have been found, recaptured, or destroyed by the time we track them down. It is also possible that this is all a ruse, an Akuma attempt to ambush a rescue party. To that end, we are not sending any medical personnel or other 'soft' resources until we can ascertain what is going on.

"The first step is to send armed flyers skipping through lightspace along the transmitter's route, chasing the signal back to its source. Once we find the ship, we need to determine if the area is safe from Akuma fighters, including any who may be on the ship which contacted us.

"If there is any sign of hostilities, I want my fliers to return to the carrier immediately with a report of what and where. And I want the red squad on standby ready to engage the threat," he announced, prompting a smug grin from Queen Bee.

"If it is safe, then the gold flyers will attempt contact with the Noir vessel. Find out how many there are and how serious their injuries. Then return to the carrier and report. We'll have a medical team standing by with a red escort to go back to the ship and treat people."

Mad Dog looked irate that his squad had been assigned the task of finding while red squad had been given the task of fighting, but lives were on the line and there was no time for dissent. He only nodded crisply to the colonel when told to have his search parties ready to launch in ten minutes.

"Gold squad!" the translator called out just before Mad Dog started barking orders. "I've prepared a recorded message in noir if the escapees don't understand the kwamiian language; just the basics: how many people, how many serious injuries, that sort of thing. Play it, record their responses, and bring it back. We can translate it here when you come back."

Captain Kim paired up members of his squad. Marinette got partnered with Agreste and they rushed to finish preparing for takeoff.

"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, a little out of breath.

Agreste thought about it. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I just want to focus on the rescue mission right now." Sometimes, compartmentalizing problems was all a person could do.

She nodded, slipping on her ladybug helmet. If he wasn't ready to talk, or didn't want to talk with her, she wouldn't press. 'Bossy' was more Alya's thing than her own.

She went to her flyer and methodically went through her checklist with a mechanic, sealing herself in the cockpit. As she linked into the communication system, she could hear the controller directing Mimic and Reflecta into launch position. There was a countdown, then the two flyers were flung from the hangar and into the void, and Ladybug and Black Cat were next.

Marinette listened to the controller walking them through the launch sequence but her eye still caught the bright pinpoint flash of Mimic and Reflecta entering lightspace before she was forced deep into her seat and shot into space.

With minimal chatter, she and her partner traveled the recommended distance from the carrier and directed their lightspace engines to take them to their first coordinates. The now-familiar shell formed around her flyer and Ladybug disappeared with a flash.

The coordinates of her route had been programmed into her flyer while she had been busy suiting up. All Ladybug needed to do was follow it until she either found the noir ship or reached the end of her available time and had to return to the flyer.

And, of course, she needed to run scans for the damaged vessel when she was in regular space, but she needed to work with Black Cat on that.

As she exited lightspace at the first scanning point, her instrument panel momentarily light up with warnings only to quickly quiet as the sensors recalibrated themselves for regular space.

"This is Ladybug executing safety checks," she announced over the comm as soon as she could.

"This is Black Cat, safety checks completed," came the modulated reply. Her partner must have gotten here a few seconds ahead of her. "Beginning scans for injured vessel. I'll take forward."

"Safety checks complete. I'll start scanning behind," she replied.

Now there was nothing to do but sit and wait for the results to come back although she highly doubted that they would find anything - trouble or otherwise - on the first jump.

There was a silence between them and Marinette didn't know what to do with it. Should she speak, or let him be alone with his thoughts? And if she did speak, could she mention the decision he was weighing, or discuss the importance of rescuing some of his people, or talk of less important things?

Before she could make up her mind, his voice crackled in her ears.

"Ladybug, should I apologize for not coming over last night?" The processing on the transmission made it impossible to read his tone.

"No!" she answered quickly. "No, of course not. You don't live with me. You're allowed to be elsewhere," although she had been dying of curiosity to know where he had gone at the time.

"Should I apologize for staying at your place so much recently?" he asked after another pause.

"No, Cat," she said. "I don't mind. That's what friends are for."

"Should I apologize to your parents?" came another question. "They live there too."

"Cat, no, don't say anything," she told him. "They probably didn't even realize you have been sleeping in my room all this time. If you tell them that, they'll want to know why you aren't staying in the noir quarters, and I don't think you want to explain that."

There was a burst of static as he sighed."No, I don't. You're right."

"Look, do you have plans for tonight?" she offered. "My dad's in a baking mood."

It was a little foolhardy to make plans at that moment. Her panel lit up to announce that the scans were complete and the surrounding space was empty. It was time to move on.

Black Cat's flyer gave him a similar report. "I would love to. You don't even have to ask," he said, and they warmed up their lightspace engines for the next jump.


	9. Survivors

**UMS Françoise DuPont**

* * *

EPISODE 9: Survivors

* * *

_Episode recap: Prisoners of war are rescued by the crew of the UMS Françoise Dupont_

The pairs of flyers on the gold squad were only scheduled to do five jumps before they needed to return to the carrier and recharge their engines. On the fourth jump, Ladybug's display finally lit up in a different pattern.

"Cat!" she called excitedly. "Cat! I found something!" She sent him the coordinates and began to ease forward. Whatever she had found was still too far away to classify accurately, but it was relatively small, definitely not a fleet of Akuma ships.

Her partner matched her pace, flying just 'beneath' her so that the two flyers would be harder to identify on a scanner. They both directed every resource available to figuring out what they could about the craft they were headed toward.

It appeared to be drifting, its engines powerless.

"It's definitely Akuma," Black Cat declared as soon as he was able. "Engines are dark. Heat signature is fading. If they still have power, they probably don't know what to do with it."

"I'm not detecting any sign of ambush," said Ladybug. "What do you say to seeing if anybody is listening?"

She then attempted to hail the disabled vessel but there was no response, not even when she repeated her call a second and third time.

She felt nervous in the black vacuum of space as they completed their approach, now maybe ten meters away from the ship. "Do you think anyone is still on board?" she asked Black Cat. It was easier to imagine the passengers recaptured and gone than dead and still aboard.

He didn't answer her directly but called out his own greeting to the vessel, first in the standard kwamiian language that Ladybug had used, and then in noir. Marinette now knew enough noir to recognize a few words and could attest that he had said far more in his native tongue than in the borrowed words of their technological superiors.

He stopped and waited for something, a response of any kind. The wait was agonizing.

Then the ship began to show signs of life. A light flashed by a portal which then opened and ejected another transmitter. It immediately began to broadcast and, while Ladybug recognized the message was in noir, she couldn't understand much more than that. Black Cat, however, hung on every word. As soon as the message began to repeat, he called out to them briefly.

"Ladybug," he said to her eventually, "There's three in total. They don't know how to pilot the ship. The eldest is very injured and the children are very scared. They need us to rescue them now."

"Now?" she repeated. "Like now-now?" They were only supposed to find the ship; others were standing by for the rescue. Tikki was probably pacing in the hangar, waiting for direction that she would only get when Ladybug and Black Cat returned to the DuPont. Plus, Marinette wasn't sure if their flyers could even dock with the small alien ship.

Cat didn't reply, he was too busy talking to the ship again, easing closer and latching onto a docking ring.

"Cat, what if it's dangerous?" she warned him.

"Then you fly back to the DuPont and tell them what is going on," he answered matter-of-factly. "Latching successful. Activating seals."

She could almost hear the clank and thunk through the comm system.

"I'm going in," he announced, his voice changing further as he switched from the comm system plugged into his helmet to something more portable and of lower quality.

Ladybug circled the ship, looking for a second docking ring in case her partner needed her help. She found it before Agreste spoke again. She hovered over it, not willing to latch on until she knew that it was safe or dangerous enough to do so. Lacking anything else to do, she initiated another long-range scan.

"They're alive," the comm crackled in her ear; the auditory processing of the portable comm rendered Cat's voice unrecognizable. "Two children, one adult. She's pregnant. She's really pregnant, and injured. She won't live long enough for us to bring Tikki back to her. I need you in here."

Marinette couldn't detect any significant inflection in his words, but she felt like at least one of those sentences deserved an exclamation point. Cursing their luck and hoping for leniency, Marinette quickly docked her flyer and climbed over her chair and past the 'nag saddle' to float down into the Akuma vessel.

The air, she noticed as she moved, was cold and thick with smoke. The only illumination came spilling from her flyer and the dim emergency lighting. There was a sharp, intermittent alarm that died away to reveal a little girl crying as Agreste tried to calm her.

He broke off his attentions as she approached. "Bug!" he said, definitely speaking with exclamation points. "We need to get these people back to the DuPont as soon as possible!"

She could see he was right. He was terribly right. They probably wouldn't freeze to death in the next hour, but the smoke was a serious threat. And the little girl was rapidly crying through their remaining breathable air.

Marinette barely caught sight of the wounded adult when she was grabbed from behind and a murderous howl was screamed in her ear.

Agreste immediately pushed away from the closest wall, coming to her aid and pulling an angry child off her back. The child - a boy? - continued to shout threats and swing his arms and legs at her as if to punch or kick. Agreste wrapped the boy in his arms until he was nearly immobile, whispering calm words until the first bout of rage died down to only vicious glares and laboured breathing.

"What was that about?" Ladybug wondered, still feeling vulnerable.

"He's never met someone who is not a Noir who didn't want to hurt him," Cat tried to explain.

She wanted to protest that she was very obviously not an Akuma, but a recognizable alarm cut her off. Agreste knew it too, his ears flattening. It was the same alarm that signaled Akuma flyers in the simulator.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked between pants. The air was getting to him.

Marinette merely nodded. "We need to get out of here." At this distance, the enemy's scanners couldn't clearly determine that two UMS flyers were docked onto this dying ship, but the ship itself would be easy to spot, and would draw the enemy toward them at greater speed.

It was not hard to figure out how to divide up the refuges: Black Cat would take the children and Ladybug would take the adult. They floated through the passageways to their separate destinations.

Ladybug helped the poor woman in the guest chair, fastening her in as quickly and safely as possible. The woman's clothing hung on her poorly, obviously meant for someone else, but the wounds by her right shoulder had rendered that arm useless and the blood was seeping through the fabric and beading into the air of the cockpit. Marinette briefly acknowledged the risk of bringing these people to the UMS Françoise Dupont, the illness that had spread when they met the infected engineer at the space station. Marinette didn't know anything about these refugees; they could be sick or dangerous; but she would deal with the consequences after they were safe from the Akuma.

She initiated the process of sealing her flyer and disengaging from the docking ring as soon as she could reach the control panel, and was still tightening her safety harness and adjusting her helmet when the little flyer began to float free of the escape craft.

"Ladybug, this is Black Cat, setting course for home," a modified voice spoke in her ears.

"Black Cat, this is Ladybug, doing same," she replied. There were two destinations programmed into her console: their fifth and final jump, and the carrier. Her choice was easy and she let the flyer's autopilot orient itself for the jump home while she kept her eyes on the portion of the display that was the long range scans. If she knew what they were up against, it could be advantageous to the red squad. There were at least six separate craft coming toward them, one larger than the others. Whether the larger vessel was actually two smaller craft flying in close formation or simply a bigger ship, Marinette now didn't care to find out. She had seen enough.

With her lightspace engine ready, she called out to her partner. He answered and together they winked out of regular space.

.o8o.

In lightspace she could see her partner's ship ahead of her, traveling in a steady line back to the carrier. He was safe, she was safe, they were all safe for now.

Ladybug breathed a sigh and prepped a recording. She wanted to begin broadcasting it to the DuPont as soon as they dropped into regular space, telling them about the health of the rescued prisoners, the location and status of the disabled ship, and the Akuma that she had spotted. After saving the recording and queuing it up, she sighed again and tried craning her head around her seatback to see her guest.

The woman had remained as silent as possible until now, her noisy pants slowly quieting as the improved air of Ladybug's flyer circulated into her lungs. She would pause every so often to grimace in pain but, barring the jolt from piercing the boundary between regular and lightspace, she hadn't cried out.

"Hi," Marinette said in greeting, then repeated it in noir.

After Nino and Ambassador Bourgeois, Marinette was probably the earthling on the carrier who knew the most of the alien language, but it was not a balanced or complete understanding. She could say things for work such as, "I'm preparing my lightspace engine," and, "My scans are clear." And she knew basic phrases like, "My name is Marinette," and, "How are you? I am fine." But she didn't know how to say, "How serious are your injuries?" or "Apply pressure to the wound in your shoulder to staunch the bleeding." She didn't even know the noir words for pregnancy or baby.

The woman just stared at her, her pale green eyes unreadable, her bobbed ears pressed low to her scalp in either pain or distrust.

Marinette repeated the noir greeting and added to it, "My name is Ladybug." There was a lot of time to pass before they reached the DuPont, she might as well exhaust her noir vocabulary by then.

At the woman's unchanging look, Marinette began to wonder if the woman understood her, if Marinette's accent was recognizable, even if the woman spoke noir or if she had been raised to hear and obey akuma.

"My name is Ladybug," Marinette repeated slowly. "Do you understand me?"

The woman blinked. "Urtrixxnil," she relied.

Now it was Marinette's turn to stare stupidly. "Urtrixxnil?" she tried. She didn't know any akuma at all.

"My name is Urtrixxnil." The accent was nothing like Agreste and the other noir on the carrier, but Marinette was beyond pleased with herself that she understood.

"Urtrixxnil," she declared, deciding that the name was on par with Elathan and Kitireth, "you are a free noir."

The poor woman started keening, Marinette could only assume in relief at finally being safe. Whatever her story was, it must have been harrowing.

The lieutenant did not attempt more conversation while the noir was in such an emotional state. But before calmness could reign in the cockpit, the noir crumpled in pain.

"What's wrong?" Marinette called out in kwamiian before switching to noir to say a more simplistic, "How are you?" The flyer was too small for Marinette to go back and tend to her guest.

After a minute, the pain died down, the woman caught her breath, and was able to explain through clenched teeth. Unfortunately, Marinette was unable to understand.

_Please don't be in labor,_ Marinette hoped for a number of reasons. The least of which was the amount of trouble she would be in if someone gave birth in her flyer. The time it would take to scrub the cockpit of any potential biological contagion would keep Ladybug grounded for months. Then again, Marinette had already spotted drops of Urtrixxnil's blood floating about; the flyer was already contaminated.

But giving birth while strapped into the nag saddle, racing through lightspace, injured, and with no medical support couldn't be good for mother or child. It would be so much better if nature would just pause until they were aboard the carrier.

And speaking of landing on the carrier, the regular hangar was out. The red squad would be rushing around and launching their flyers. Mechanics would be everywhere. There was no way that Tikki would be able to tend to her new patients in that hectic atmosphere. And there was no guarantee that the young noir who attacked Marinette on the Akuma vessel would be able to remain calm in that setting.

She edited her queued broadcast to stress Urtrixxnil's pregnancy and to say that they would be landing in the ambassador's hangar. That would give Tikki enough time to travel from one to the other.

Urtrixxnil's monologue continued for a few minutes until her voice faded and her throat grew dry. Marinette decided to keep quiet and let the poor woman rest as much as possible but a new spasm of pain soon seized her. Marinette checked the flyer's display: twelve minutes between the two episodes seemed very much like contractions.

Marinette waited until the pain had passed again, then turned on the internal recording and asked her same stupid question. Again the noir answered but whether it was in essence the same or whether she was talking of something else, Marinette couldn't say. But it didn't matter, the answer was now be preserved for Nino or somebody else to translate while the woman was finally receiving needed medical attention. As before, Urtrixxnil's speech slowed then stopped, fatigue evident in her voice.

This pattern repeated for the rest of the flight home: a contraction would stop the woman cold, Marinette would wait until it ended then ask her how she was, and the woman would answer. Each time, Urtrixxnil ran out of words and energy earlier than the time before, dropping into a light doze only to be squeezed out of it by the pain of her contractions. Beads of blood were floating in the cockpit, growing bigger and more numerous over time. Marinette was now too preoccupied with worry over the woman bleeding in her flyer to worry about what Mad Dog would say to her.

At last they were nearing the end of their journey in light space. Urtrixxnil had been resting silently for the last four minutes and she was probably about to start another contraction.

"We leave lightspace soon. Be ready," Marinette warned.

The woman behind her gave no sign of hearing her words.

"Hey, Urtrixxnil," Marinette said, louder. "Wake up."

Again there was no response, but Marinette couldn't dwell on it. She had to focus her attention on ejecting from lightspace in the smoothest possible way. As soon as the shell was broken in regular space, her flyer began the recorded broadcast even as her sensors were recalibrating. Though she hung nearly unmoving in space, she was drifting toward the bulky carrier. While she sat impatient to be recognized, she tried to talk to her passenger again, but Urtrixxnil was unresponsive.

At last her speaker crackled to life. "Ladybug, Black Cat, this is UMS Françoise Dupont. You are cleared for Hangar Bay 5. Begin your approach from the side."

That was not the diplomatic hangar that Marinette had requested. She wondered if Agreste had prepared a similar message for the other hangar. She tried to message him but he didn't answer. She hoped the children were okay; they had not seemed injured to Marinette when Cat had bundled them into his flyer.

She moved out of the way to avoid the red squad that came from the main hangar and lined up to jump as a group into lightspace to possibly engage the Akuma who remained at the derelict ship. Marinette didn't know if the Akuma would bother leaving anything behind after she and Black Cat had rescued the survivors. It would be better for everyone if the Akuma were long gone by the time Queen Bee's team reached the site.

.o8o.

When she was close to the designated hangar, she slowed. The doors weren't open yet; something was up.

"Ladybug," crackled a familiar voice, "stand by."

"Stone Heart?" she thought she recognized the voice. "What are you doing here?"

"Captain thought someone you know would be best," came the answer. "You've got a lot of baggage and the last time you two did something this foolish, the entire ship was under quarantine for two months."

Hairs on the nape of her neck prickled. "Is Cat okay?" She still hadn't heard from him.

"Black Cat is fine," Stone Heart assured her. "Worry about yourself and your passenger. Before you are cleared to land, I need you to answer some questions. Tell me about your passenger."

"Noir, adult, female, pregnant," Ladybug rattled off at a fast pace. "Unresponsive; she hasn't moved or spoken in like ten minutes. Injured in the shoulder; there's blood in the cockpit. She doesn't speak kwamiian, just noir with a bit of akuma… when she's conscious, that is. She's been having what seem like contractions, but I don't know anything about noir pregnancy, so maybe not." All this was already included in the communication she had sent, so she wasn't sure why Stone Heart needed to hear it again.

"Alright, you are cleared," Stony told her after a few more random questions. "I need you to put your flyer on remote-pilot and turn the control over to me. I'll guide you in. We're all a little worried about Akuma biological weapons so there will be weapons trained on you. Just remain calm and keep your actions slow and nonthreatening, and we'll get your passenger the care that she needs."

.o8o.

Urtrixxnil had died. Years of active abuse and passive neglect by the Akuma, her body's steady drain of energy and other resources to support her pregnancy, and the final injuries she sustained in her escape required care far sooner than Tikki could provide. She lost consciousness while still in lightspace and she never woke up, but she died a free noir.

Tikki was able to save the baby, although that life was so tenuous and fragile that celebration was postponed until people could say it with greater confidence. There was the threat of illness and contagion, and until all the survivors were examined and treated, another shadow marred their relief.

Marinette knew none of this at first. She was separated from Urtrixxnil as soon as she got out of her flyer. She was put under quarantine and examined by Dr. Hannah who subjected her to a battery of tests that mostly involved drawing blood. At the end of it, there was nothing to do but wait for the results, then wait a few more days - maybe a week - and run through the tests again.

Her next action was to write a report about what had happened while rescuing the noir before the details got muddled and she began to forget things. Then she was allowed to speak with her parents to tell them that she was alright and would see them as soon as she was able.

Lacking anything else to do, she took a nap.

Mad Dog was there to see her when she woke, standing on the other side of the window that separated her quarantine cell from the rest of the medical bay. He looked tired and unhappy, and she wondered how much rest he had gotten and how much trouble she was in. She gave him a groggy salute and waited for him to speak.

"Ladybug, did Lt Colonel D'Argencourt send you on a reconnaissance mission," he asked, "or a rescue mission?"

Marinette felt her stomach sink a little. She was in a non-trivial amount of trouble. "Reconnaissance, sir."

"And were you or your partner cleared to board the damaged craft?" he asked testily.

"No, sir," she admitted

"And were you clear to bring injured people back to the carrier?"

"No, sir." Then she added, "But if we hadn't, sir, three people wouldn't be alive right now." She counted the noir children and Urtrixxnil's son. "Plus, if we hadn't stayed as long as we did and detected the incoming Akuma, the red squad would have flown into an ambush."

Mad Dog nodded angrily. "Yes, that's one way to look at it," he said. "Another is that the Akuma would have had no idea that the red squad was coming if you hadn't stayed long enough to tip them off. Our headcount is not as positive as you think. We gained three sick children and in exchange we lost Mantis and Recluse." He paused to let that sink in and Marinette felt sick.

"Plus," he continued when she looked like she could stomach more bad news, "we've got four pilots and four flyers that are at least temporarily grounded. Scarab and Mecha both took some bad hits before they could jump out of there. Their lightspace engines were able to get them home, but they've got decompression sickness and you know what that's like. Their flyers are pretty beat up too, but no where near as ruined as yours and Black Cat's."

"How is my partner?" she asked in a meek voice.

The captain looked older and heavier suddenly. "One of the kids he brought back is pretty violent," he said.

"I know which one you're talking about," said Marinette, thinking of the one that had tried to attack her. Cat had defended the boy at the time as having an understandable reaction to an alien. Now, Marinette could easily see that behavior in a more sinister light.

"Yeah, well, Black Cat was stuck in the cockpit with him all the way through lightspace, and then they had to wait until we could clear the hangar of you and the noir who died. If the Akuma did manage to infect that kid with some Noir version of Vulpin Madness, Black Cat probably has it too. I mean, you're probably safe. The odds of a virus affecting both earthlings and noir are pretty minimal, but until the doctors can be sure, they'll keep you here. If that little guy was in any way contagious, on the other hand, your partner isn't going anywhere for a long, long time."

.o8o.

Marinette remained in quarantine for 10 days before she was released. It was clear that she was not infected or contagious. It felt good to be out of quarantine, to be able to actually touch people, to be able to speak with them without a barrier in the way.

Trixx, the noir infant named in honor of his mother, was released after two weeks. He had shown no signs of being infected but, being a noir, the doctors were more cautious about him. Even though Trixx officially left the quarantine unit, he still spent a large portion of his time there so that Tikki's attention was not divided between those that needed her.

The children that came in Agreste's flyer were called Nooroo and Doosu after a pair of siblings in Noir mythology. The children had been too sick to answer any questions about themselves since their arrival although Tikki suspected, having been born into slavery, they didn't know their real names.

The pair were ill, so obviously ill. Nooroo showed nothing but rage, screaming and lashing out physically at anyone who approached him, but too small and weak to pose a serious threat. Doosu was quieter, sobbing and clutching herself tightly as if she would unravel otherwise. They were moved immediately to a joint quarantine cell; everyone expected them to cope better if they remained together, but they had to be separated when Nooroo attacked his sister. There had never been a report of a Noir version of Volpin Madness before, but the children definitely acted mad. And Agreste, who had spent the entire journey in lightspace trying to restrain Nooroo from damaging the flyer or harming Doosu, began to feel unwell himself after an hour in his quarantine cell.

Agreste was as honest as he could be with his symptoms at first - withholding information could only endanger his recovery - but he was obviously becoming paranoid as time passed, eventually refusing to speak with anyone and lashing out at those who entered the cell to care for him. While Nooroo and Doosu were only weak and malnourished children, Agreste was a fully grown male and quite strong. While Nooroo might give someone a painful bruise or bite, that was his limit; Doosu had a tendency to self-harm and was not typically a threat to anyone else. Agreste, in contrast, broke the arm of a doctor who had entered his quarantine cell on the third day while under light sedation.

Tikki, hoping to preempt a more aggressive command from Damocles, increased the dosage of Agreste's sedative. However, he nearly choked a med tech before the drugs took effect, and after that, her hands were tied. Those who grew too violent under the influence of Earthling Madness had been placed in medically induced comas until Tikki could devise an effective treatment, and the colonel expected no less now.

A few days later, Tikki had to do the same to Doosu, whose propensity for self-harm was too dangerous to leave her unattended.

The medical staff focused their attention on Nooroo, taking tests and running simulations, looking for answers. It was a war of attrition, trying to find the cure or at least a sustainable way to neutralize the symptoms. These were all things Tikki had done before with different species, and she hated the feeling of impotence when she found herself at another dead end. While these failures contained valuable lessons, she would much rather make measurable progress. And it felt especially nerve-wracking when it was other Noir who were so sick.

Slowly the symptoms were brought under control and the child began to respond with more than rage. The underlying infection was still at work, but there was enough progress to bring the other two out of their imposed hibernation.

Tikki was not present when Doosu began to wake, but she came as soon as possible to the medical bay with Trixx in her arms. It was slightly anticlimactic, because the girl was only awake for a few minutes before falling back asleep. Agreste took another day to awaken and, like Doosu, he did not stay awake for long.

Marinette had been visiting her sleeping partner since she was released from quarantine, stopping by every other day to see him and tell him stories about what he was missing. Now that he had opened his eyes, Marinette came every day. Sometimes he was completely unconscious; other times he would shift in response to her voice or even open his eyes. Occasionally he would say her name or even talk with her, but he forgot their conversation by the time she returned.

One day he opened his mouth in the middle of her rant about another flyer and she immediately fell silent. "Marinette," he said slowly and quietly, "you already told me about this yesterday."

Marinette tried not to gasp. "You remember me telling you about Comet?" she asked. Comet was the latest addition to the squad and fresh out of D'Argencourt's class so Agreste had not met him before the incident.

He nodded weakly. "You talked about him right before you said…" he trailed off, trying to remember the rest of the monologue but his mind was blank. He shut his eyes, trying to recall any new detail but it just made him realize how tired he was.

Marinette stood at the window, looking into his quarantine room, waiting for him to continue, but he drifted off to sleep instead.

Eventually she sighed. This was progress, she told herself. Remembering was progress. Agreste was still too exhausted from fighting the infection to do much else, but she would be positive and take this as encouragement.

Tikki soon appeared at her side. "Are you ready?" the doctor asked.

Marinette nodded and pressed a button by the window, turning off its transparency and giving the sleeping noir some privacy. "Let's go," she said.

The two women walked away from the bay with Trixx resting comfortably in Tikki's arms. Marinette shared her news that Agreste had remembered some of what she had said to him yesterday. "That's good news, right?"

"Yes. He's not recovering as fast as Doosu but he's getting there," Tikki agreed. Then she saw the look of hope and worry pass over Marinette's face. "He is improving. I know it feels slow, but trust me, he'll be out of quarantine soon."

"But what if he's not completely cured?" Marinette wondered, forgetting to stay positive. "What if he can't come back to being a flyer? What if he gets reassigned to another ship, another group of noir?" There were too many negative possibilities to consider.

Tikki shrugged her ears and shifted her hold on Trixx. "I cannot predict the future," she admitted, "but Agreste is young and strong. It would be wasteful for the UM to dispense with his service. Besides, are we not celebrating some of that today, Agreste's service and yours? No one is going to discharge a hero on the day of his recognition ceremony."

"It's not just for Agreste and me," she pointed out, thinking somberly of others who were injured in the mission, and those who never came back.

Tikki looked unpersuaded. "I know that I am going to honor you and Agreste."

.o8o.

Agreste's improvement became easier to observe. He stayed awake longer. He could remember more of what was said to him, and could respond in conversation. He could sit up. He could stand and walk around in his cell. He could exercise with a jump rope.

Marinette visited him at least once per day, eager to see his progress. It was never quite the same spending time with him when he was confined to the quarantine cell, on the other side of a window, as it was normally, but it was so much better than watching him lie there comatose.

The cure, frustratingly, appeared to be time and their own immune system which had eventually worked out how to neutralize Noir Madness. Tikki's work, however, was not wasted or discounted. She had slowed the virus to the speed that could be overcome by the victims' natural defenses. And now that her patients had all but conquered the virus, she had access to the antivirals to generate the cure on a larger scale.

When Nooroo and Doosu were released, there was a party in the medical bay. Marinette brought cake, and a personal serving for Agreste so that he could enjoy it in his cell while the rest of them dug into their slices. The two children were moved to the Noir quarters, which was quickly becoming full. Plagg's private room had been enlarged when Tikki joined the carrier, and space was shuffled again when the adjacent room was reassigned to Trixx, and one more time when two larger rooms were reserved for Nooroo and Doosu. Agreste's original room had been commandeered for the children's playroom. His nest had been moved into Gore's private room in anticipation of his return.

With the children released from quarantine, it was only a matter of time before Agreste would have a similar cause to celebrate. The levels of the virus in his blood kept going down, and Tikki could predict when he would be released.

"I have some confessions to make," said Marinette with a grimace. "You're not going to like them."

Agreste was curious. "You don't know that," he said, trying to be hopeful.

"I don't like them," Marinette countered. Before he could say anything else, she continued at a rapid clip. "There's a new squad - blue - led by a new captain that we picked up at the station. His name is Jagged and he's very laid back. His second in command is Trouble and she picks up the slack. I've been reassigned to Blue Squad and given a new partner - that guy Comet that I keep talking about. You're still on gold under Mad Dog, but I'm not sure who's your new partner. I mean, I've seen her around, in passing, but we've never spoken with each other. Stone Heart has taken a different position and Mad Dog has a new second named Sharp, and she sounds worse than Queen Bee."

She paused so that he could react.

"What's the problem?" he asked, trying to absorb everything she had been withholding from him.

Marinette blinked, a little hurt. "The problem is that this is my third squad in about a year! I'm not moving around because a new squad leader thinks I'm great and wants to steal me from my old squad; I'm moving because my old captain is sick of putting up with me. I'm not lucky, Agreste; not good luck, anyway."

"Luck-" he said quietly before he stopped himself. It had been months since she heard him utter her secret name, and just as long since she had done the same. Anything they said through their flyers' comm system was recorded in case things went sour. Likewise, anything spoken to or from a quarantine cell could be observed by the medical staff in case it triggered a reaction in the patient. The lack of privacy was not usually so insurmountable, but it had built up.

"Look," he tried again, "you know how I feel about you and luck. I'll get out of here and we can figure it out together."

Marinette tried to smile but it came out as a wince. There was very little opportunity for togetherness in their future. They were no longer partners; they were no longer on the same squad.

Agreste could read from her expression that she was upset but when he asked her what was wrong, she refused to say, soon making her excuses and leaving. Stuck in the quarantine cell, Agreste could only watch her go.

.o8o.

Marinette basically missed Agreste's release party. The blue squad had changed their shift at the last minute and suddenly she was on duty during the gathering. She tried to make it up to him by hanging out in the medical bay with him before her shift started, keeping him company while they waited for the last set of test results to come back clean. She brought a tray of cupcakes that were more frosting than anything else and listened to Agreste warn the doctors and technicians that he wanted first, second, and third pick before anybody else could select a treat.

Then she had to go. Jagged might be lenient to her being a few minutes late, but Trouble would not. And Jagged had too much respect for and dependence on Trouble to override any punishment Ladybug might receive for being tardy.

The shift was not hard despite her wishing she was elsewhere, but at the end of it, Marinette couldn't believe that it was worth her time to be there as opposed to elsewhere. She went back to her quarters afterwards. She intentionally had not made plans to meet up with Agreste in the next day because she knew he needed to rest more than he needed to talk with her. When Agreste wanted to see her, he'd send her a ping or possibly stop by the hangar. She wasn't the only person who was looking forward to seeing him up and about again.

Tom and Sabine Dupain-Cheng were making breakfast when she walked in. Despite their shifts being out of sync, she had no compunction against eating breakfast for dinner, and quickly changed out of her uniform to help out.

As she set their small table, there was a knock on the door. Her mother answered it, exclaiming, "Agreste!" in greeting.

He sheepishly apologized for interrupting but he couldn't sleep and wanted to thank them for all the frosting they had provided for his party even though they had not been able to attend. The earthlings smiled at his appreciation and Tom asked if he wanted to share their meal. Agreste agreed without a second thought and joined them at the table.

It was strange for Marinette to see him in that setting. With her frequent visits to the medical bay, the physical changes to Agreste's person had been gradual. But here in her own home, after an absence of months, the weight loss was obvious. That, coupled with his very blatant fatigue, made him look far weaker than she expected.

"Are you growing your hair out?" Tom asked him. "It's nearly as long as Marinette's."

Agreste laughed a little and pushed some food around his plate. "I'll have to cut it short again before I report for active duty, but Tikki says that is a month away at least."

"Well, I think it looks very handsome," Sabine complimented him.

Agreste twitched his ears in a smile and continued eating. However, after a few bites to taste everything, his energy started flagging. His fatigue was soon noticeable and the Dupain-Chengs asked if he was feeling okay.

"I'm fine," he said. "It's just that I've been moved to Gore's room and he doesn't sleep soundly."

Marinette felt bad for her bestie. Rest was an important part of his recovery.

"If you're tired now, maybe you should try to go to sleep," suggested Sabine.

"Are you sure?" he asked politely. "I mean, you invited me to eat with you."

"You've been sick and are still recovering," Tom pointed out. "There's no need to stand on ceremony at a time like this. Rest up."

"Oh, okay." Agreste stood up and began to gather his plate and cup but Marinette stopped him.

"It's okay, Agreste," she told him with a gentle smile. "We've got this. You just go and get some sleep."

Agreste nodded and mumbled his, "good night," and turned around… And walked into Marinette's room, closing the door behind him.

Marinette stared at her bedroom door with wide eyes, trying not to gape. He… he had just gone into her room like he lived there, right in front of her parents. Sure, he was drunk on sleep deprivation, but how was she supposed to explain this? Tom and Sabine had no idea that Agreste had practically moved in before he got stuck in quarantine

It was the sound of her mother snickering that forced Marinette to look at her parents.

The both of them were laughing, shoulders shaking; the humor made more acute by the fact that they didn't want to be loud.

"That poor boy," Sabine finally gasped, wiping away tears of mirth.

"He's too tired to know up from down," Tom agreed.

Her parents were amused, and it baffled her. "You're okay with Agreste staying here?" she asked.

"As long as you don't mind, i don't mind, Sweetie" said Tom. "He's in no condition to go anywhere right now."

Sabine made a noise of agreement. "Perhaps we should send a message to the other Noir so they know where he is, in case they think he's gone missing."

Marinette hadn't expected her parents to be so at ease with the situation. "Let me check on him, make sure he gets the hammock set up safely," she said, excusing herself from the table.

In her room, Agreste had managed to get his shirt off but had stopped there, too tired to figure out the next step.

"Minou, have a seat," she told him, guiding him to the chair.

Rather than taking it, however, he wrapped his arms around her in a heavy hug. "Lucky, I missed you."

She let him hang on her for a bit with her face buried in the hair of his collar, until his weight began to press on her. He might have lost mass during the last few months, but he was still bigger than her. "Come on, Minou," she said, patting his back and giving him one more squeeze, "sit down so I can hang the guest hammock and you can get some sleep."

He dropped slowly into the chair and slouched as he watched her get ready. When she was done arranging the blankets for him to nest in, he said, "Lucky, move out with me."

Marinette stopped and looked at him. A lot of thoughts flew through her mind at a rapid pace, but the only one that mattered was the one she gave voice to:

"I would love to. You don't even have to ask."

* * *

That is where I plan to end this. There's probably more to it, but it's a nice resting point and I want to focus on other projects. Thank you for humoring my writing experiment. I hope everyone who read it enjoyed it. If you really enjoyed it, please drop a comment in the box.

Thanks again,

-snafsnaf


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